Lost Children in the Dark
by The Queen of Heart
Summary: Set 6 months after season 1. Ward received a strange visit at the Fridge. New ennemies crawl in the Dark, seeking revenge and recognition. The help of Gods is a blessing when the enemy holds you by your most primal fear : death. Characters from Asgard may appear in the story.
1. Prologue

**Hello, dear Marvel fans and all of those who clicked on the link to dsicover this story. **

**First, I wanted to thank my amazing friend byLunaA. Without her, I certainly won't be posting this story. She is the best of all. **

**Hope you like the prologue. **

**Enjoy!**

**The Queen of Heart**

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><p>The man was sitting in the surveillance room. It was past midnight, and, even if it was just the beginning of his round. In front of him, images of the twenty or so cells of his part of the Fridge flicked on the screens, showing prisoners, of both genders, asleep or not, in various states of bruising.<p>

The inter-com system beeped and a female sounded in the speaker.

"Hey, there. It's Mary. Can you open cell 214 for me, please?"

Answering with a groan, he unlocked the door of the cell Mary wanted to go in. It's only a few seconds later that he realized something was really wrong. A woman never entered a male prisoners' cell, even she had a gun with her, it was part of the rules of the prison. So why Mary, the facility's director's secretary was doing here, in the middle of the night?

Cell 214… Who was in cell 214?

He reached for the inter-com, ready to alert the security but a hand landed on his wrist. He looked up to see a woman, half of her face covered with a metallic mask. She broke into a sickening smirk.

"Hello there. Don't you dare alert your little friends!"

And his nose came violently in contact with his desk.

Inside cell 214, the prisoner opened a tired eye. They were interrogating him in the middle of the night now? And for interrogations! They were more like beatings than anything else. His sight adjusted to the darkness and he was able to see the young feminine silhouette standing where the metal door usually was. A woman? What was a woman doing here? He sat on the cot with a sigh. His ribs hurted from the morning's beating.

"Ward?"

She had spoken with hesitation and hope. He knew her voice. He couldn't believe it. It was not possible. How could SHE be there? After all he had done, after the anguish and betrayal he had seen in her eyes before being driven to the Fridge? Was this a dream?

"Skye?"

He stood up, bruised and hungry, tired and sad. No, it couldn't be. He walked to her, stopping a few steps away from her because of the cuffs keeping him chained to the cold concrete wall.

She hesitated before stepping up and facing him. He waited for her to do the first step. What was she doing here? He was a hated, violent man, a traitor and a spy. He had broken her trust and shattered the beginning of something that could have led to actual, and mutual, feelings.

"What..."

She hugged him with strength. He wasn't prepared to that. But he wrapped his arms around her frail body.

"I missed you, Ward, she whispered in his chest."

"Me too, rookie, me too."

He breathed into her scent. It was her. Where Coulson and the rest of the team here too? Why? It had been 6 months, at least, and he was desperate to know if Fitz was ok. No news came to his hears. Almost nothing. The bad, dirty jokes of the guards, their thick, greasy and noxious laughs. The cracking of bones hitting bones, the moans and cries of the prisoners, the way they begged. It was constantly noisy, dirty and smelly. And he just couldn't picture Skye here.

He hadn't seen her move. He just felt the needle diving into his flesh straight to the nearest vein.

Skye was drugging him. Her usually warm brown eyes were filled with cold and determination.

"Sorry, Ward. Time to go to sleep."

And all went dark, crushed under the feeling of betrayal and shattered hope tightening his heart.

The man stopped the video with a slight beep from the screen. He looked at the famous agent who was standing at the other edge of the digital table. Agent Coulson, now Director Coulson, was still watching the tape from the Fridge's CCTV system, even if it had stopped.

"So, what do you make of that?"

A discreet cough from the other agent present, Level 8 Melinda May, made him add a more polite and politically correct 'sir'.

"May. Go find Skye."

Skye was currently punching a poor leather bag who had done nothing to her. It had become a habit of hers since her SO was gone. Like the morning routine she had kept (with maybe a few arrangements). Not a way to remember him, no she sadly had plenty of memories of this douchebag. But a way of saying she could do without him. She couldn't let herself rely on the others like she had done with him.

"Skye!"

She lift her head to meet May's stare. The woman nodded, clearly wanting the girl to go upstairs with them. She sighed and followed the older agent to the conference room.

Coulson and another man she didn't know were waiting for her. The Director looked at her in a suspecting way, like he did when she had been caught with her ex-boyfriend last year.

"Skye. Can you explain THIS to me?"

He gestured towards the other man and a video, from a surveillance camera started. In a cell, there was somebody sleeping. The date and hour read 08.26.2016 at 12.06 p.m. The young woman realized quickly the footage was from the last night. And what was on it was unbelievable. The door opened, revealing a young woman standing there. The prisoner moved, sitting on his matress. And the woman spoke.

"Ward?"

Skye's voice resounded in the conference room. What was this joke? She had slept through the night without waking up!

"Skye?"

That was indeed Ward's voice, low and hoarse, almost unrecognizable. He stood up and Skye saw him hug herself. That was weird. Watching herself do things she hadn't done at all. And then, the video Skye pulled a syringe out of her pocket and, by the surprised face Ward made, it surely ended in his throat.

The video stopped and all the agents present looked at her. Obviously wanting for her to say something.

"What? I didn't do this."

"Where were you last night, Skye?"

Again with the cold, anger-filled voice.

"Look AC, I was in my bunk, sleeping. And how could I sneak out the Bus? I'm no cat burglar."

"She couldn't, May said, neutral tone, stating facts. We were up in the sky last night."

They all looked back at the picture. It was clearly Skye. But that wasn't humanly possible.

"So, who is this person?"

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><p><strong>Please don't forget to review to tell me what you think of this beginning! <strong>

**Until next time! **

**The Queen of Heart**


	2. Back from the Dead

**Hello! **

**Thank you for all your favs, following and the two reviews I get! I'm happy to se you are enthusisatic about this story. **

**New chapter today! As you (maybe) guessed I'll post one chapter weekly. (Oone special one-shot for my birthday? ... Maybe... Maybe not...) **

**Enjoy your reading and don't forget to tell me what you thought about that chapter! **

**P.S. : I do not own Marvel's Agents of SHIELD in any way, nor the characters from other Marvel universe in the story. I do, however, own the plot, and my OCs. Even if they do look like Marvel characters, they are absolutely different. I mostly inspired from the Norse Mythology and it happened to be a coincidence. Thank you. **

**P.P.S. : Dear friend, don't let the pictures kill you, there is two more days to go. **

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><p>"Is he gonna wake up one day? I thought you had picked up a tough one!"<p>

The girl was walking around the room with a look on her face clearly stating that she was irritated. Her stormy blue gaze was fixed on a man's body, lying on the floor. Her long coat brushed her knees at every step.

"Patience is the virtue of victors, Daughter of Thor."

The calm and low voice of Hella was coming from the huge window closing the room. The woman was standing, lying against the wall, facing the sky. The other girl could only see the metal part of her face. And the glassy, milky look of her left eye, now a bluish shade, due to the color of the sky.

"Don't call me that." The girl spat. "As long as I'm concerned, Thor is not worth being my father."

"Thor isn't worth being who he is. Loki should be where this failure stands."

Almost mesmerised by the words of the woman, the younger of the pair approached her and looked up at her. The goddess was tall. And impressive.

"Loki had been so kind to me…"

"When your mother was chasing her foe through Asgard and Midguard…"

"When my father was with his Midgardian lover…"

A noise made their heads swap. The man they had taken from the jail the night before was waking up. The two Asgardians exchanged a look.

"Are you up yet?" Asked the younger. "We do not have all day!"

Ward looked around the room, unconsciously checking for escape opportunities. Something hit him like a ton of brick. Skye. Where was Skye? The two women definitely weren't Skye. One was blonde, and the other... Part metal, part raven-haired.

"Soldier. Stand" The latter ordered.

Dread was creeping on his mind. At the icy, sinister voice, he couldn't help but respond. It was fear. He was terrified.

The blonde raised an irritated and waiting eyebrow. She eyed him with contempt and curiosity. Was this man the mighty warrior they had heard about?

Hella took a few steps towards the man who tensed.

"Grant Ward…"

"You know who I am."

"We heard about you from a very reliable source."

Ward was standing, military style. He didn't know why, but he had to do that. Or something really bad would happen to him. And he didn't want to die.

"I don't know you."

"You want to know who controls you... That's honorable."

"I'm Torunn of Asgard."

"I'm usually called Hella Lokisdottir of Helheim." The creepy one replied.

Her name sent a shiver down the man's spine. He swallowed. The woman burst into a cold, acid laugh.

"You are afraid of me, Midgardian. You are right. No mighty warrior resists my power."

"Hella. Enough with the chat!"

The blonde had just spoken. She seemed to be more impatient than the frightening one. Her face was familiar to him. He had already seen her. Or someone from her family.

"What am I doing here?" He asked. "And where is Skye?"

"Ah. The dreaded question! Finally! Your little friend has never been near you in months."

"But I've seen her!"

"Maybe. Maybe not. Anyway. You're here because you're gonna take your revenge."

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><p>The door of the interrogation room closed behind Coulson. The man was nursing his bloody nose, groaning under his breath. He looked up at the agent.<p>

"Finally! Have you find the bloody woman who did this?"

The door opened again, on Skye. She stood near the wall, statue-like. The man gulped and looked away from her.

"I'm Agent Coulson, this is Agent Skye."

"Look, Coolson or whatever. I didn't do that. I'm no way the one responsible for that. I would like to go, now."

The agent looked at him, raising an eyebrow.

"You opened the door."

"I thought it was the Secretary, ok?"

"And what the Hell was she doing there in the middle of the night?"

The man opened his mouth, preparing a biting remark. But closed it.

"I don't know."

In the conference room, May was watching intensely the all interrogation. Skye had gone confident and more impressive in the past months. The older agent knew that it was just an armor over her broken heart. But it was already something. More difficult for Fitzsimmons. They were ambivalent on this case. He had tried to save them after all. Ward... She had slept with him. She had trust him. This jerk... This double agent. Oh, he had played his role perfectly, they had all trusted him. Even her... And he had destroyed the heart of the girl she had come to like in a motherly and protective way.

In the lab, Fitz was retrieving data from the eye-recognition system of the Fridge. A bleep sounded at his right. On Jemma's computer, the results of the test she had ran on the sample of tissue from the guard's bruised wrist had just popped up. But the girl was nowhere in sight. Frowning, annoyed by the constant sharp noise erupting from the machine, he called his co-worker. Twice.

He waited a bit before calling again. At the fifth or sixth time, when he was starting to feel upset, she appeared.

"Oy! Stop yelling like that!"

Her cheeks were all pink and her hair slightly disheveled, like she had just run.

"Where were you? You got your results!"

"I was checking something... Oh great…"

Her expert fingers ran on the keyboard while her expert eyes took in every pixel of information she could.

"Oh my God."

"What?"

"We have a problem."

Back in the little dark room, Coulson's patience seemed to be fading as the guard from the Fridge continued to deny everything, and to make sexist remarks.

"You know what they say. Never piss of a woman. Worst than dragons. I don't know who upset this one, the one with the mask. Poor fellow!"

Skye was doing her best not to bite back. Staying stern was the key.

"Speaking of the woman with the mask. Can you say something more about her ?"

"Some crazy chick with all her left side hidden beneath a metal armor or something. More shiny than actually protecting her, if you ask me."

"And other than her physical description?"

They were finally getting somewhere.

" …"

"We do have all day!" Skye growled in the corner.

"Feisty one, you got yourself, man. No offense, sweetie but this is men business."

"And you think my fist into your face is men business?!"

"Skye!"

"Sorry, AC."

Tripp had rejoined May in the conference room and felt that the woman was an inch from facepalming.

"She was pretty strong for some skinny girl. And got a voice that froze my insides! Like she was back from the dead or something like that".

Coulson suppressed a sigh as the lack of accuracy in the man's description. But after all, he was paid to push buttons, something that didn't imply any particular thinking.

Skye preceded him on the way to the door. When he followed, the guard cries out.

"Hey, man! You're not gonna let me rot in here! I'm no prisoner!"

"Why not. And that's not man. That's Director for you."

He closed the door behind him. His younger agent's smile welcomed him in the conference room.

"Well done, AC. You just shut his big fat mouth for a while!"

At that precise moment, when Coulson was opening his mouth to talk, some pretty excited Fitzsimmons ran into the room, almost bumping into Tripp.

" Sir, sir, sir! We got something!"

"That's impossible!"

"Unbelievable!"

"Well not really because we've…"

Before loosing them into their techno-babble and usual brotherly quarrel, May ordered them to talk.

"The fibers of the wrist of the man are 100% not from here, Sir!"

"You mean, S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"No, sir. Earth!"


	3. Along the path

**Hi!**

**So today, as usual, one new chapter of Lost Children in the Dark! **

**Don't forget to review! Last chap, there was no reviews at all! :'( Don't hesitate really, that's always good to have comments, critics or not!**

**Enjoy the chap! **

**The Queen of Heart**

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><p>Her footsteps hadn't had any particular echo that could have warned potential foes of her approaching. Her wrath was indeed important, and no Asgardian nor mortal fancied crossing her path at this precise moment. Armored limbs refleshing in the mirrors along the corridors, dark locks swiftly moving at each of her motions, her staff rocking back and forth again and again, as she was walking unheartedly to deliver bad news to her Prince. Anger, as well as worry, displayed in her gaze.<p>

How did that happen? How did this woman succeed to gather enough power to cross the void between the realms without getting through the Bifrost?

And most importantly, where were she? She wasn't on Helheim, where her power stood, nor on Asgard, where she came from in a way. One of the most deadly threats of the Nine Realms was out, where she couldn't be watched.

On that thought, the door before her opened in a slow and quiet motion. She walked past the threshold and stood in silence, waiting for the man before her to acknowledge her appearance. In one graceful move, his cloak following, Thor turned around, revealing the sharp storm of his grey-blue eyes.

"Lady Sif? What owes me the honor?"

"One infortunate message I would like not to be the one delivering to you."

"Talk."

And there was the warrior she had come to love after years of battling side by side. Not the stiff and pompous prince he had become in the last few years, shaped by the iron will of the All-Father, but a man capable of worrying for lives lost, for wars to come, for the love of a woman. This was a side she hadn't seen in a long time, now a side only one Midgardian woman could see. To say she was jealous was an understatement.

Taking a deep breath, Sif began to speak.

"Hella Lokisdottir is gone."

Shock readable on his features, the man looked at her intently, waiting for details.

"We should have jailed her. She's nowhere to be seen. And she didn't crossed the Bifrost. We searched through Asgard and Helheim, where she could be. No sign of her."

"We shall hunt her down. Sif. Take a few men and search the other realms. I'll go talk to Heimdall."

The woman nodded and turned back after a little formal salute.

"Wait!"

Frowning, she waited. He walked towards her, narrowing the space between them. For the first time in a while, there were almost equal.

"How is she?"

"I don't know."

"But she's your daughter, you should know."

"And yours. Don't tell me what I have to do with her. You're not worth of it. Leave me alone now."

On this word, the woman exited the room, leaving a quite upset Thor behind her. Because she was right.

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><p>The car was rolling on the road, straight forward on the never-ending line of asphalt. He was driving, neither Asgardian had wanted to touch that roraing Midgardian machine.<p>

It had been only a couple of days since they took him from the Fridge. Ward had quickly understood the dynamism of the group. Torunn, the impulsive blonde, led them, with her quick pace and impatience. She was belligerant and wanted destruction. But there was something else about her he didn't catch. Something deep down inside the very core of her being, past the armor she wore, as clothes as much as to protect who she really was inside. Her look was one of a young woman, in her early twenties. Seemingly innocent. Dirty blonde locks, piercing blue eyes, fair skin. She was tall, but not that tall. Thin, muscular. Her body was always covered by an armor, dark blue leather, shining metal, her red cape. Her sword was fixed at her hip and he had caught the glimpse of a knife in her boot. But she stayed a killer. He had already seen it.

Then was Hella, like a cold, frightening body guard. She didn't talk much. But when she did, everybody listened. She had a sort of power in inspiring terror in others. Her simple being here made everything much simpler. Just her look inspired fear. The entire left side of her body, from head to toe, was covered in a metal armor. He often thought it made her practicly invincible, her heart being on this side. Her eye, in the little slit in her mask, was milky white, changing a little bit of shade according to what she looked at. The right side of her body was all pale skin. Her hair was pitch black, straight. The right eye was the same color as her hair and clothes. Her lips were as red as blood. Black hair, white skin and red lips. A terryfing Snow-White...

And then... Stayed him. He didn't really know his role in all of this. Driver? Probably not. The way they had called them 'mighty warrior' when he had woken up meant they had chosen him for his fighting skills. But there were dozens other excellent fighters in the Fridge. Why him?

He was suppose to fight at their side. But against who? They had talked about a revenge but he didn't want revenge. He was worried about the team, about how he had hurt them. He wanted to get back and apologize. Even if it was to be beaten up by May. But he really didn't care about that. He wanted to explain everything to Skye, to Coulson... They had trusted him and he had betrayed them in the most horrible of ways. He had slept with May to stab her in the back. He had befriended Fitz and almost killed him. And he blamed himself so much.

On the passenger seat, Torunn sighed. She was bored to death. It was way too slow for her taste. How could mortals live like that? The panorama was repetitive. It wasn't like that she was going to take over that planet! Oh, they thought she wasn't worth it? She was going to show them.

"Are we there yet?"

He looked at her.

"Not yet. 30 minutes left."

"Can't you make it faster?"

"Nope."

She sighed exasperetly and came back to her silent observation of the road.

"Do I know you?" He asked.

That question had been bugging him since he had met the girl. She looked at him and raised her eyebrows.

"That's a lame pick-up line."

He laughed. This girl was different than any of the Asgardians he had met. She was more close to Midgardian culture. Just the way she talked was different from Sif or Lorelei's archaic phrasing.

"You seem familiar…"

"I've never met you, Grant Ward. Now shut up and drive."

"Yes, ma'am."

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><p><em>He couldn't look at her in the eyes. But he had to do it. He just had to. She deserved to be the one getting out of it. She deserved to stay alive. More than him, anyway. He turned around and punched the device. She screamed, he felt tears rushing on his cheeks. And the water came. <em>

_It felt like hundreds on punches in the gut. All air expulsed violently from his lungs and the crashing cold of the liquid around him, on him, in him. He felt life sucked out of his body as the same rhythm than the air. He felt his body starting to scream for oxygen. He knew that it would be his death. He felt her hand around the collar of his shirt, dragging him with her. She deserved to be alive. He was dying anyway. _

_He had often thought about dying, when he was younger. When he was alone and lost in his little square room after coming back from high school. He had asked himself how would it be to take your own life away. When he was sad and lost, when his classmates bullied him for being a nerd, when his parents fought and he heard his mother cry. When he saw her putting earrings out of his father's car, earrings he had never seen before, ones he was sure didn't belong to her. Dying would definitely feel better than the life he lived. If it was a life. Was it a life? He didn't know. And he didn't want to know. He knew they were far worst countries to live in in the world, he knew some people had a worst existance than his. But he just wanted to be selfish. _

_And now, it was his selflessness that was killing him. How ironic. _

_It was cold. Too cold. He felt something different. It was calmer. Darker. More peaceful. He closed his eyes. And let go._

Leo Fitz woke up with a start. It was night. It wasn't the first time he had that nightmare. Was it really a nightmare? He wasn't frightened, he was just... Sad. He might as well had died.

All was different. Simmons was different. She had become distant. And he hurt him so much. He had sacrificed himself for her. And her... She treated him like he wasn't her best friend anymore. Like something had changed. And he didn't understand that.

Being back on the hunt for Ward felt strange. He had betrayed him. But strangely, he didn't want him dead like Skye or May. He didn't want revenge.

He stood up, dressed up and went to his lab. On the table, parts of one of his new dwarfs were waiting for him. But he didn't want to do that. He opened his laptop, put earphones and turned the music on. The blank space of a text page opened. Time to forget. To try.

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading that chapter! <strong>

**I would like you to tell me what you think will happen next! **

**Don't hesitate to criticize !**

**Until next week! **

**The Queen of Heart**


	4. Hail Your Queen

**Hi! **

**I know this chapter should have been posted yesterday but I completely forgot! (Bad Bad Writer!)**

**Thanks to all the ones who supports the story by following and favoriting it. Thanks to my amazing friend who is always there for me on Facebook. Thanks to my amazing supportive man, I love you so much, darling. **

**New chapter, maybe some surprises. **

**Enjoy! Don't forget to review, fav or follow. **

**The Queen of Heart**

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><p>In the darkest chamber of all Asgard, far in the heart of the Palace, where servants never went, was standing Loki Laufeyson, heir of Jotunheim and King of Asgard. He was bored to death by the royal duties he had to attend in Odin's form. He craved recognition of his power. He craved the sound of crowds chanting his name. But he had to wait. Patience was the virtue of Kings.<p>

"My King!"  
>"Yes, Lorelei!" He hissed, turning around.<p>

The splendid red-head was tanding there, her features bold but fear leaking from her eyes. He quite loved her. Loki's love always came in twisted schemes. He loved her afraid of him.

"The plan you thought of is a success."  
>"Of course it is, lover. Am I not the God of Mischief?"<br>"Yes, My King. You are."  
>"Good."<p>

He stepped towards her, enclosing her in his solid embrace. The fear in her eyes made him smirk wolfishly. He kissed her violently but she smiled.

"Sweet Little Lorelei…" He whispered in her ear, making her purr in delight.

"Now what, my King?" She asked in a low whisper.

"Now we just have to wait." He said, his smile of victory on. This morning smelt good. It was the beginning of a new era. His era. The time when terror was his ally on the people of the Universe. When Midgardians were prey. When he reigned by the blood he made flow. When he reigned. And when they praised him. Loki. Laufeyson.

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><p>"Sif!"<p>

The woman drew back her sword and turned around, her eyebrows raised up in annoyance. She was wearing her training gear, her dark brown locks hardly knotted at all. She had just spent a couple of hours in front of her friend Fandral, fighting hard. And at the moment she finally felt relaxed, Thor ran into the field, shouting her name.

"Yes, Thor?" She said, annoyed.  
>"Heimdall found the Lokisdottir."<br>"So what? Can't you find guards to catch her up?"  
>"She's on Midgard."<p>

Sif sighed. They would have to deal with that SHIELD organization again…. She wasn't anti-human as where a good part of Asgardians, but she had to admit mortals were really annoying. Sometimes.

"You want me to go and talk with the mortals, am I right?"  
>"Yes. And I shall come with you."<br>"I can handle that alone, thank you Thor."  
>"But the problem isn't the mortals. The problem is the one accompanying the Lokisdottir."<br>"What? She found herself some dangerous Midgardian criminal?"

"Worse. She found herself Torunn.

Sif breathed in. Bad news. If Torunn was involved… Here came the day both of them had been dreading for.

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><p>The car's tires squealed on the asphalt. The soldiers looked up, to the trio exiting it, to the guards coming behind them, all completely under their control. They drew out their guns, aiming the two women and the man. If the women were dressed as warriors, with a solid-looking armor, the man was only wearing a T-shirt. So they aimed for him first.<p>

The blonde woman, who looked like the leader, stepped forward, making all the soldiers tense.

"Humans! We mean no harm to you."

One of them, surely the most reckless of all, answered back.

"What do you want then?"

"To speak with your leader."

They all looked at each other. Hella sighed and exclaimed in her creepy voice.

"Mortals! You heard your Queen! Give us your leader!"

Almost immediately, at Ward's surprise, awe and real fright, the soldiers ran to find their superior. It was kind of thrilling for Torunn to see all of these men running under her command. Well, mostly Hella's but since they worked together…

She understood what would it be to be Queen, to know people saw her as she really was. Powerful. She was there. On top of her world. Maybe not loved, she had given on that a long time ago. But feared. It was exciting. They had never seen her like that. They would be surprised, of course. They had never payed attention to what she became. It was time they saw who she could be. A ruthless, powerful Queen. With an army ready to die for her. With hundreds of men at her feet, ready to satisfy her every desire. To care about her. To be there every time she wanted. She smiled.

She had tried too long to be perfect. She never would be. But she didn't care anymore. She wanted power. And attention. And she would have both of them. She would do anything it took.

"Where is your leader?" She roared, tired of waiting. "Do I have to make an exemple to make it faster?!"

A couple of soldiers came back, positively frightened to death, dragging a really pale-looking high ranking officer.

"What can I do for you, Ma'am?" He asked, in a contemptible squeak.

"Ma'am? Did I understand well? Ma'am?" Torunn barked. "Mortal, you will learn quickly to respect me as who I really am! I am your Queen!"

"My… My Queen…" The man squeaked.

"Much better…" She said, regaining her nerves. "Now. What can you do for me… What does a Queen have?"

"A… a crown?"

She laughed, making the officer swallow. "I don't need those petty shallow things. Every kingdom has its army. I need an army. And you would give me that."

"But…"

"Did I hear a but?" She roared.

She snaped her fingers and, in a flash, Hella had the officer hanging from her long pale hands, nails diving into his neck. The man cried out at the pain.

Torunn turned to the soldiers who were all standing there, petrified, looking at the scene with wide terrified eyes.

"I shall make an exemple. Anyone who will ever dare to confront me will end up dead."

There was a sickening crack and the officer fell from Hella's claws. They all nodded silently, sweating.

"Now. Hail your true Queen!"

The petty chant didn't echo as loud as she wanted it to be. "Hail your Queen!" She repeated a couple of times before obtaining the praise she wanted. She had her army.

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><p>Skye was mumbling furiously at her computer. The image of the ones responsible of Ward's escape was definitely too blurred. She couldn't discern a single feature of the hooded woman's face. The other was highly recognizable, Mary Porter, secretary of the Fridge's director. They had brought her in, to interrogate her. But the poor woman didn't know anything. She seemed innocent. And they were witnesses. She was partying for her 26th birthday when she presumably had helped Ward escape. It was a real baffling problem. And it made her crazy. *<p>

"Are you going to work, you stupid machine?!" She cried out in frustration.

"Easy, Skye!"

She turned around to see Coulson leaning against the threshold of her bunk, smiling.

"But that's just so frustrating!"

"Did you find something?"

"I have one image. But it's blurred, and I can't suceed to find a good image of the hooded woman."

"So we have to start from scratch?"

"Yeah… The only thing we have is the poor description provided by that man you interrogated…"

They stayed in silence for a moment. Skye spoke first. She had been dying to ask him that question.

"How can you not hate Ward for what he did?"

Coulson took a deep breath. That was a tough question. He had to be careful with his answer. He didn't want to hurt her more than she already was. The betryal of Ward had deeply affected her feelings. For a while, she had been blinded by hatred and revenge. She had become reckless. She took every occasion to put herself in danger, in a way that had almost cause heart attacks to the rest of the team. She was ruthless and punched everyone who came into her way. Scary.

"Well… I don't hate him." He said. "But that doesn't mean I trust him." He added quickly before getting glares from her.

"He betrayed us. He followed Garrett over us. We gave him a home. I gave him my love. And he stomped on both of them. I hate him."

No, she didn't. That's what Coulson thought. He thought she hoped her feelings towards Ward were hatred. He thought she prayed to stop feeling that way when she heard his name. He knew it. He knew she still loved him, deep down. But even the shell she had built around herself had cracks, even her beloved hatred had flows.

"What are you thinking of, AC?" She asked suddenly, interrupting his thoughts. Busted.

"I was thinking of Fitz. He doesn't want revenge as much as you or May do."

"That's something I don't understand, he almost died by Ward's fault!"

"I think he's…"

A loud noise resounded in the Bus. Something big had hit the cabin. They both looked up at the ceiling with a frown.

"What is going on?"

Coulson rook off to the cockpit where May was mumbling. He took a night-night gun, just in case and ran to the cell. The pilot had opened the trap in the roof to let the intruders in, if intruders it was. The door opened slowly. Screams of anger came to his ears.

"Why did you have to FLY on the aircraft?! Couldn't we just wait for them to come back to the ground?! Sometimes I wonder if you're doing it on purpose or if it's just pure stupidity!"

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><p><strong>Who flew on the aircraft? <strong>

**What is the link between Torunn, Thor and Sif? **

**Try to guess! **

**Until next time!**


	5. The Dark Side

**Hi! **

**So, today/tonight, a new chapter which I hope you will enjoy!**

**Thanks to all of those who support me!**

* * *

><p>"Not every Asgardian is a freakin' God of Thunder!"<p>

The tall woman yelled. Her brown eyes were glaring daggers at the god at her side.

"Don't tell me you are afraid of heights, Sif, you would disappoint me."

"Haven't I disappointed you already?"

She muttered, a deep hurt look on her crestfallen face.

Coulson was patiently waiting for the two Asgardiands to stop fighting and acknowledge his appearance in the room. Neither of them seemed to have changed during the time he hadn't seen them. Their armors shimered in the darkness of the interrogation room. A very freaked-out and armed-to-the-teeth Skye peered through the open door. When she saw the two gods standing there, her jaw dropped to the ground.

"Oh my God… Is that… the Thor?"

She asked shyly, her face expressing the strangest mix between awe, suspicion, worry and surprise. Sif gave a quick look towards her. The girl had changed.

"Seems like it is…"

Coulson sighed. Of course, he was glad to see Thor and Sif again, but their presence on Earth meant troubles. Big troubles.

At his side, the girl was still shocked. He chuckled a bit before wispering to her.

"Stop drooling, Skye…"

"Sorry."

She mumbled sheepishly, gathering back her wits.

The Asgardians finally turned their attention towards the two agents patiently waiting for them to realize they were here.

Sif nodded to Coulson and smiled to Skye. She recognized in the depth of the girl's eyes a scar she knew too well. The kind of scar she had plenty of. Betrayal, anger, heartbreak, hatred znd love. A good dose of love. All the things the warrior had felt, and still did.

"Why those weapons aimed at us, Son of Coulson? Are we considered enemies of Midgard?"

"Not at all. That's just precaution. Since you didn't exactly warned us of your arrival…"

Sif glared at Thor in a way that clearly shown coming on Midgard as quickly was not her idea.

"We were caught by the time." The god explained. "We are here hunting for dangerous criminals. Murderers."

Coulson frowned.

"More dangerous than Lorelei?"

"Way more. They crave power and death. and they won't stop until they have all they want. This entire realm. And then the Universe. And they have means."

"The Nine Realms? Whole?"

Skye and Coulson were horrified. That was bigger than they thought could happen. But why them? Oh wait… They were the only agency with that kinf of intelligence.

"They already have one of them, Helheim. If we don't stop them, they will soon own Midgard. Take the others. And finish with Asgard."

"Why are you asking us help?"

"Because we don't know exactly where they are. And you have the ressources to."

"And will we find them? I mean they are Asgardians. They can hide quite well."

Sif nodded. That was exactly the problem. But they knew one of the two criminals too well not to predict what she would do.

"One of them will make a mistake. She's young, dauntless, craves power and attention. She wants people to hail her as their queen. Her pride, her ego, will push her to drop the act. She will reveal herself."

"How do you know that?"

Skye asked. She was surprised they knew the criminal they were chasing so well. They could even predict her steps. In a way that was almost suspicious.

"Because she's our daughter."

Thor answered. Skye's eyes widened and her jaw finished on the floor again.

* * *

><p>Her hands stroked her blade slowly, cleaning it, polishing the shining metal. She found solace in that gesture, how her own mind would bend to her will, with enough focus not to wound herself. She knew she had to look like a psychopath when she did that, smile on. But she didn't care. Peace was good. She was alone but not lonely in that room with other persons to whom she could talk to if she wanted to. She was in her own bubble, but with others.<p>

She could feel how the eyes of the mortal they had rescued never left her. He was constantly on his guard. That was good. One never knew what could happen. He had stopped asking about his beloved a while ago, when he had suddenly been too close with the sharp end of Torunn's sword. She liked him. He was honest and full of ressources.

"You have been cleaning your sword for... an hour at least. Why?"

"To forget people like you who are annoying me."

She growled. He tensed and narrowed his eyes at her. And then she did something he wasn't expecting. She laughed. He frowned. What the Hell was happening? Right now, she didn't look at all like the cold-blooded killer he had seen earlier. He had been scared to death. And this time not by Hella. By the anger, the hatred, and the craving, and the ecstasy he had seen on her face when they had hailed her.

But now, she was a young woman laughing out loud right into his face. Young. Carefree. Relaxed.

"You want to know why? Because it allows me not to think. I like being in control."

"I've seen that."

"Yeah… I like people to know me."

"Even if it's a monster they see?"

"I don't care what they see. At least, they see."

"Right… Why do you want attention that much?"

She sighed and sat down. For a while, she kept silent, watching her surroundings with little to no interest at all.

"Well… My parents never really paid attention to me when I was younger. They still don't. I learned all I know thanks to my grandmother. And thanks to the battlefield. Yeah… My grandmother and the battlefield. The real architects of what I've become."

He looked at her. She wasn't the one he thought she was. There was that broken pat of her he had never really seen before. That was interesting. He learned more things every day about her. And except for that psycho power-angry side, he really liked what he learned.

* * *

><p>"May?"<p>

The woman turned around. Skye was standing there. She smiled at her.

"What do you want Skye?"

"I need to ask you something…"

"Talk."

The girl sighed. She didn't felt right talking to May about that. It was extremely personal. She had thought about that for a long, long time. It had kept her from sleeping well. It had kept her from behaving in a normal way. For months. For months, their faces had been swaped in her sleep. In her nightmares. They were there, both of them. And since she coudn't remember one's face, the other had became his. It was awfully disarming. And she hated it.

"I… I have problems."

"With what?"

She took a deep breath.

"I always had dreams about my father. You know how sometimes your subconscious makes you remember things or persons you never knew. For years, he had been getting away from me, and I would scream for him to come back until I wake up, almost every night. Then, I met the team. I had a family again, so I stopped to dreamed about the one I had lost. I thought my nightmares were gone for good. But I was wrong…"

May looked at her with her piercing gaze. What was happening with the girl? She had clearly seen the restless look of her protegee these past days, and was starting to worry about it.

"What made them reappear?"

"I think… Ward's betrayal."

May immediately tensed at the name. She hated this man so much. He had destroyed his own team, almost killed Fitz and broken Skye's heart.

"I know it sounds crazy but… He has taken my father's place."

"You're saying you dream about Ward?"

Skye sighed. It was really weird to say that, but it was true. She now saw Ward reaching for her in the dark, trying desperatly to escape the pitch black hole he was sucked into. Around him were dancing the strange signs Garrett had carved into walls, the one she thought she knew. He called her name, crying out for help, begging her to do something, but she couldn't move. An invisible force kept her still, to watch him disappear, even if she was screaming and sobbing and struggling. His hand was swallowed by the darkness, and she fell to her knees, freed only after his death.

And she eventually woke up. It was when she was shaking and crying, tangled in her sweat-drenched sheets that she wondered if something was wrong with her. The answer was without doubt yes. Something was wrong with her. She was not supposed to dream about the one she hated so much. Not that way. Not in any way imaginable.

"And there are the signs Garrett was carving, you know… I don't understand, May. What is happening to me?"

The woman could see how much Sky missed the man she had fell in love with, even after all he had done. She wasn't a psychiatrist in any way, but she could feel the hatred was just a cover. And for the symbols… Well, she could start worrying right now.

"I think… I'm not a specialist but… You miss him, Skye."

"How can I?! I mean, I hate him so much!"

"Maybe a little too much…"

May mumbled. The girl frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"Go see someone with actual qualifications, ok?"

"Right… Thanks."

She nodded and waited for the girl to walk away. She had to be sure of something. If what she dreaded whas actually happening, then she could worry. But she had to be sure. She followed at a distance the girl, made sure she was back to the living room before opening Skye's bunk.

She sneaked inside, and posed after closing the panel behind her. The room was quite organized, and she knew the answer to her questions were probably in the pile of papers on the little desk. She started to browse through them.

It wasn't the first time Skye talked about strange, regular dreams. May knew they were one of the first symptoms Coulson had shown after the GH325 injection, a few of years ago. What if it was happening to Skye too? What if it worked faster on her, due to her mysterious origins?

The woman abandonned her researches after checking all the paper at least twice. She was reassured. Skye wasn't affected. Yet. But it was still reassuring. Maybe her dreams were just bad dreams after all. She turned her head up, wanting to relax her neck, which was a bit stiff from the extreme tension she had gone through.

But it didn't change a thing. It even made it worse. Because the dark ceiling of the room was covered in luminescent writing. Symbols. The one Coulson wrote too. Her heart missed a bit. Skye was affected.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading!<strong>

**Don't hesitate to tell me what you think will happen next!**

**The Queen of Heart**


	6. Merciless

**Hi, everyone!**

**Have a nice chapter! **

**Today more about the dark side of the Force (watched Star Wars two days ago, I'm not back from it yet.)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>The young soldier bursted into one of the conference rooms, where the queen, the scary one and the man who stayed silent were. He had heard the others talking about fleeing, and had felt compelled to report it. He didn't want his buddies to die. Because it was exactly what was going to happen if they decided to go away and get caught.<p>

The heads of the three of them turned towards him. He was greeted by a questionning stare from the queen. He saluted, showing his respects. The two women scared the hell out of him. He felt that one wrong ste was enough to send him to his death.

"Why are you here, soldier?"

The queen asked with her usual cold and commanding tone. There was that charisma about her, that undeniable autority that made almost everyone comply.

"I heard men talking about leaving, my Queen."

Torunn frowned. She couldn't tolerate that kind of behavior in her army. She couldn't tolerate even a thought about rebellion.

"Is that so? Where are they?"

Ward looked at her, with a frown. He was suddenly quite afraid for the rebels' heath. He had seen once or twice how Torunn despised when people tried to step over the boundaries she had established.

"In the yard."

The young woman sighed. She would have to draw blood. It was the only way.

"Good."

Hella muttered something to the girl's eat and the latter took off towards to the yard, Ward and the soldier following. They both dreaded the outcome of the confrontation. They had seen that sparkle of anger in her eyes after Hella's word. They knew it meant troubles. And the presence of the sword at her hip didn't reassure them at all.

The door opened suddenly, making half of the men jump in surprise. They saw the blonde, eyes glaring, exit the building.

"What did I just hear?"

Her voice snapped in the air, making every single person tense. The quiet anger they had discerned back in the building had grown into a burning fury, a scalding hot dander wrapped around every single word she said.

"Some of you had the ludicrous fallacy of leaving my command?"

Silence reigned in the yard.

"Then, you shabby cowards who prefer act in the dark rather than in the light. Step forward."

Five of the whole squad followed her order and stepped out of the group. One of them was braver than the others, holding his head high, clearly challenging her.

"We are not cowards. This, is the army of the United States of America, not the one of an auto-proclamed tyran as yourself!"

She drew her sword, the shining blade reflecting the dazzling sun. This man, who dared speak up to her, was without doubt the leader of the rebellion. The one she had to kill, or convince. The one who needed to understand she wasn't going to let anyone take other her authority.

"I shall be merciful. You'll be free to leave. But only if you beat me in combat. Only then, I will admit you are not cowards. You have the choice. Refuse to fight, and you'll be granted life. Fight, and the outcome is up to your fighting skills. Now. Who wants to be first?"

Swallowing, three of the men went back into the group. They didn't want to die. Even to get away from that psycho.

"I'll go first!"

Torunn's eyes narrowed at the leader of the so-called rebels. He was taller than her, but not a lot. He was muscular and had a little intelligence. He was also quite unafraid of death. Good. It would make it a lot easier for her.

"Now, is that bravery or just some good dose of stupidity?"

"You have a high opinion of your fighting skills, young girl."

Ward was watching the whole scene with horror. This masquerad was cruel and useless to him. It was just an act of unnecessary brutality. He understood the need to show what became of those daring to confront her. But there they had to choose between death by her hand, or denying what they were fighting for, their freedom.

He could see how the girl was psychotic, full of rage of anger hardly contained in her small body. She was a constant threat to anyone in her vicinity, friend or foe. Nobody ever knew what she was thinking, how she would react.

She threw him her overcoat. He took the opportunity to look into her eyes. He saw determination but also regrets. One thing he wasn't prepared to see.

At her signal, they both rushed into combat. Her sword hissed when it came in contact with the air. Torunn was dancing around the man, her armor never enabling her to do whatever she wanted with her body. It was a dance of death, they could all see it, but they were hypnotized by it.

The soldier tried his hardest, he never touched her. It was at that exact moment that they all realized he hadn't have any chances. Ever. She was good. Really good. And she knew it. He was going to die.

He was now turning his back to her, trying to gain his breath back. It was the end. They all knew it now. They both dreaded the blood. The death. The scream of pain and fright that was coming.

He screamed. She stayed cold. The blade slashed into the flesh of his neck. There were blood. They all looked away. Even her.

"Now. Who wants to gain his freedom?"

There wasn't the previous arrogance in her words. Nobody stepped forward. The one who was ready to challenge her only a while ago went with the group. She nodded.

"Good."

And stepped inside of the building again. Ward and the others followed her. He wanted to talk with her. About what they were planning. He needed to talk with her. Because after what he had seen, he knew their lifes were in danger.

* * *

><p>Sif sighed. The plane was so different than Asgard's aircrafts. Everything was different there. On Midgard, the best places in society weren't occupied by warriors. The wealthier weren't fighters, killers… They were doctors, lawyers. It was good in a way. Women were in more equal with men.<p>

She looked around her. She wasn't comfortable with staying for some time there… She felt like she was intruding. What had she done to end up there?

Oh wait… She had fallen in love with her best friend, gotten drunk, slept with him and finished pregnant. And she had had that marvelous idea of letting the girl alone, as if she had never existed. So now, she was there, on Midgard, chasing after her own daughter, who had turned into a power-angry murderer. Welcome to her life!

"Sif?"

She turned her head. May was arriving. The two women were quite alike, and liked each other well. Two warriors, broken up by life.

"Yeah?"

"You said, last time we saw each other, you knew about Kree?"

Sif nodded. Why was the fighter concerned with Kree problems?

"I've seen them. What do you want to know?"

"Do you know their language? I mean, can you translate it?"

May was conscious this was one of their last chances. She needed to understand what was happening to Coulson, but also to Skye. She needed to know if it was going to end well or not. She was afraid. That was one thing she wouldn't admit at all, never. But to herself, she could say it. She was afraid of the future. Between the hunt for Ward and the two Asgardians, that side-effect of the GH-325 and all… She was going to die out of stress. So now, she prayed for Sif to have the answers to her questions.

"I… I don't know a lot of words…"

"I'm afraid that… Skye and Coulson have problems. They are carving Kree language, or writing it."

"When did it started?"

"They… they were both injected with a serum called GH-325. To save them from death."

"Where did it come from?"

"From an alien body. Kree."

Sif looked at her. That was it. Kree had genetic particularities that pushed them to constantly try to continue the species, even if they couldn't procreate. She was afraid of what it meant for the two members of the team.

* * *

><p>"Torunn."<p>

The girl turned around to face Ward. He was standing there, looking at her. He had finally taking the decision to come talk to her. His hope was her sparing Skye and the team during the battle coming. He hoped the little bit of humanity he thought he had seen was enough for her to grant them life.

"Yes, Grant?"

"I want to ask you something."

"Ask."

He took a deep breath.

"Well… I'm asking you to spare the girl I love. I know you are preparing an attack on SHIELD but please, please spare her. She's innocent. She's just a sweet girl."

"You are asking me to spare one of those who put you in a jail?"

"Yes. I know it seems crazy but…"

She rolled her eyes.

"And you have other persons you want me to spare? Because, make a list!"

She was clearly annoyed. What was he thinking? Was he really hoping she was going to be ok with that? He was either delusional or completely stupid.

"Actually I have one. All those on the Bus. All my team."

"So, you are basically asking me not to kill those I want to kill?"

She was starting to feel a bit of anger coming. She didn't understand why he was asking her that. Wasn't he suppose towant revenge? Some kind of payback for his months in prison? Wasn't he suppose to hate them? And now he came, with some kind of list of persons she was not suppose to kill, with among them, exactly those she was targeting!

"And you really thought I was going to say yes? Honestly?"

He looked at her. There went his hope. Nobody on his old team would be spared. Not even Skye. And if the girl was really sadistic, she would ask him to kill one of them himself. He walked away without another word.

Torunn didn't understand why, but she could feel he loved the girl. She decided to spare her. But only her. And she would find a pretext to keep her alive, as a war prisoner maybe. Or a source of information. She would let all the soldiers know they couldn't touch a hair of that girl's head. But the others… She couldn't do a thing.

After passing the message to the whole army, she decided it was time for a little battle speech. She had never done one but heard a lot of them. Now, it was her army. Her time.

"Soldiers!"

They all looked at Torunn. She was standing there, her helmet at her side, shield and sword ready for battle. Her voice was commanding, and they knew she meant something. Battle was coming.

"Our next target is the agency that is threatening us! The agency that jailed you, Grant Ward. The agency that chased your parents, Hella! They are the only obstacle between us and this world. This realm will be ours soon enough… When we would have taken S.H.I.E.L.D. down. Then, and only then, this world will hail its true Queen!"

As hypnotized by the way she talked, they all acclaimed her. She had that crazy smile that made Ward shudder. Hella was smirking too. This was her masterpiece. The sweet girl she had met on Asgard was now nothing more than an monster, a psychotic tyran. She was her little doll, shaped by Hella's will.

"Good. Now, soldiers. Take arms. And have no mercy. Let the War rage on!"

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><p><strong>Don't hesitate to leave reviews, it always make my day!<strong>

**Let me know what you think of Torunn, Hella and Ward, of Sif and the little bit of May we see. **

**Until next time!**

**The Queen of Heart**


	7. Maybe

**Hi, everyone! **

**I'm happy to post that new chap. **

**No big battle yet. But some talks between Ward and Torunn... Interesting maybe? You'll see. **

**Thanks to all those who favorited, followed, reviewed... That's really important for me guys!**

**Now somebody I know in real life is gonna read it at some point, and I'm really, really stressed about it... Really. **

**Anyway... Enjoy our chap!**

* * *

><p>The young woman walked into the room. She found her 'prisoner' there, grumbling, charging his gun quite violently. His motions were not precise, he missed the barrel a couple of times. It really didn't improve his mood. Not the slightest.<p>

He didn't look at her when she stopped next to him, looking at him. He knew it was her. Of course. Who else wore an armor, had that way to walk that quietly with her armored combat boots. Who else had that shadow of power whenever she was?

Right now, he didn't care about the sweet side he had seen during their late talks. He didn't care about the broken girl he felt was inside, about the puppet he felt she was in cruelest's hands. She was… She was the cruelest there. She was the one condemning his love, his family to death. She was the one who had looked at him with those serious eyes and killed her. Just there in front of him. She had sentenced Skye to death. He couldn't, he just couldn't look at her in any other way. She was a monster.

"You are heartless."

One blow to the chest.

It hurted more than it should have. Of course. She had started to think he understood her. She had started to think he saw her as more than that. As a friend.

It hurted more than it should have. She had hear it from numerous others. She had heard it from her fellow warriors on the battlefield. From her uncle. From her cousin. The two later times had been the ones with the most effect on her. It had been that taste of power, of invincibility. It had changed the way she saw the others. The way she behaved. She had to be ruthless. Merciless. Heartless.

"Because I can't spare the ones you want me to?"

"Because you don't understand what is love."

Another blow to the chest.

How dared he say that to her? He didn't know her. He didn't know what love had done to her life. To her parents. He didn't know. He didn't have the right to say that to her. Nobody had that right but her.

"You don't know…"

"Give me your irrefutable arguments, then. It won't change what I think about you, though. But you can try."

"First, you can't judge without all the parameters."

"What don't I know? Go, hit me with another whiny story about your past…"

She bit her lip to keep herself from replying more violently than she would like to.

"I won't. What you don't know is... That I gave orders to spare the girl."

His gun hit the floor. The sudden noise changed the atmosphere of the room. And basically everything else.

"What?"

His incredulous eyes met her serious ones. What had she done? What had made her change her mind? He felt kind of ridiculous after his former judgements on her. Maybe she wasn't that bad. Maybe…

"The soldiers know they have to spare the youngest of the female warriors they will meet. I count on you to tell us which one she is. It woud feel bad if we killed her by mistake."

"Why are you doing that?"

"Because… she might be interesting for us to keep alive. She's specialized in Midgardian technology, right?"

He couldn't think right. But one thing was important. She remembered. She remembered what he had told her. Until then, he thought that she had only listened to him because she was bored of her own misery. But no. Now, he saw that she had learned things form their talks. For the late hours they had spent, when neither could sleep. He didn't know what dreams haunted her but they seemed tenacious. Maybe like his. Maybe they weren't that different.

He had killed too. He had betrayed too. He had been heartless too. He was haunted by tenacious dreams too. He was broken by his past too.

Maybe. Maybe she wasn't that different.

He remembered too. He remembered her stories. The infinite sadness and loneliness pervading every memory of her childhood. The darkness of her past. The only light being her grandmother. He had seen that in her. He had seen the scared child, lost in silence. That's why he had thought she wasn't really bad.

Because maybe she wasn't. Maybe.

"And because I know you love her."

"Thanks."

* * *

><p>"Come on, Skye!"<p>

May urged the girl. They were training in the gym of the Playground. Well, May was training Skye. Who was starting to be breathless and to feel her heart beating in her head. Come on, Skye. She exhorted herself to fight, to continue even if she was exhausted. Even if she couldn't bear it anymore.

"Left arm, higher."

That was what he used to say. Ward. He always said that when they were training together. Left arm higher. She couldn't continue today. She always get discouraged at the same moment. When she started to feel anger rising. When she was exhausted. When she lowered her guard. When May told her these three words. When she lost her temper.

"I can't."

She stopped fighting. The woman sighed and looked at her. May was worried for the girl. The change was getting bigger and bigger. And the GH-325 seemed to have a role in that.

"Always at the same time, Skye."

"I know."

Her hands were starting to shake. It wasn't normal. She wasn't supposed to get used to it. She wasn't supposed to see that as just the sign she needed to carve. But it was true. It was the sign she needed to carve. To carve the symbols she saw every day on her ceiling. The symbols dancing behind her eyelids during her sleep. Whenever she closed her eyes.

It was getting worst and worst. The dreams, the carving, the hopelessness. The effects on her body, on her mind were too important. She had to tell someone. But she couldn't. She dreaded the aftermath of it all. The others never allowing to do a thing because of what was happening to her. She wasn't prepared to loose her freedom.

"Are you alright?"

May was frowning, eyes fixed at the shaky hands of the girl. Something was wrong with her.

"Oh… Yeah, yeah…"

"You are sure?"

"Listen, May. Thank you for worrying, but everything's alright, ok? I don't need you to look over me like I'm 5."

Skye stormed out of the gym, mumbling. She was getting angry easily these days. She was always on the edge, always about to explode. She ran into Tripp as she was making her way to her room. He caught her by the arm. It took all her self-control not to fight her way out his grip.

"What?"

"We found them."

Her eyes widened. They had found them. They had found Ward. She knew what it meant. It meant she would have to fight against him. Maybe bring him in. Be near him again. See him. After all this time.

"How?"

"Anonymous call. They are at an army base. Preparing for battle. Against us."

* * *

><p>"You would like them."<p>

"Who?"

She looked up at him. Everything was going soldiers were almost all ready, the arms were numerous and she could feel the call of battle in the rush of the men. She liked that. The call of blood, the battlefield screaming for her to join. She had always been fighting, all her life. She liked the adrenalin, the danger, the power… The control. Everything she loved in that made her an excellent warrior. But she was way too stubborn to follow commands. She was a freelancer.

"The team. Skye. And the others…"

"You don't often talk about them."

She wanted to know them. She felt like she had to ask.

"They are all so different… Skye is always running all over the place, always around electronics… Always… So tough on the outside, and sweet, caring on the inside…"

"That's the girl you love. You would made a great couple."

"Thanks…"

He laughed. But his laugh wasn't happy. Not at all. It was sad, melancholic maybe.

"There are Coulson, the leader. He is like the father of the team. Always checking out after us. And we worry for him. May… The badass fighter. You'll like her. She's right, extremely skilled. She never lets anything go. She is tough as nail."

"and then?"

"There is Simmons. She's…"

"Wait, Simmons is a girl?"

"Yeah. Her name's Jemma. But we call her Simmons. We do that a lot. You are the only one to call me Grant. The others call me Ward."

"That's strange…"

She frowned. She didn't understand that habit of Midgardians… Nobody ever call her Thorsdottir. Nobody did that on Asgard.

"She's… Well, she's our doctor… She's into biology. Alien or not. Always blaming herself. But I think she has… something else in her than what we see."

"Is there someone else?"

"And the last one is Fitz. He is… He is geeky, smart and brave. He would… He would accompagny me on a mission, even if he has no fighting skill at all. He is… I don't really know him. I think there is a lot hidden from view. He's kinda secretive. Same than Simmons.

"What's his name?"

"Leo. He would like your accent."

"Which accent?"

She was thinking about what he had just said. And she hated him right now. Because it made her want to spare them all. But she couldn't do that.

"When you talk. It's kinda British. But with a little thing else."

"If you say so."

She shrugged. When he talked about them, she saw how much he lovec his team. How much he regretted all he had done. It was sad to hear him talking about that.

"I'm sorry…"

It was barely a whisper, but he heard it anyway. He looked up at her, at the hand which had just landed on his shoulder.

"What I say is not important but… I'm truly sorry."

"It's nothing. Tell me about your family…."

She sighed, looked away. Her family. Tough topic.

"Oh… My family… I… My father is a prince. He is know in all the realms. He is… brave maybe. I would say… He is a coward. He couldn't face me. He couldn't face the fact that he had a daughter. That I was there. He just went away. Away from me. And to Midgard and this… girl he met. Jane Foster."

"I heard about her... "

"She… She stole my father."

Ward felt this was a sensitive topic. He remembered she often talk about another person from her family.

"You said you grand-mother was important…"

Of course she was. Frigga had raised her, loved her. She had taught her how to fight. She had been there when nobody else was. Torunn held her close to her heart.

"She was there. That's all I need to say. My mom left me with her too, jumping into the battle. Running away. She gave me a name, held me and went away. She came to see me sometimes. But the awkwardness…"

"You are not lucky."

"Oh yeah… Love is a weakness. That's what I learned. But maybe. Maybe someday…"

"Maybe someday… You'll find the one…"

She had a little sad laugh.

"Yeah. Maybe. Until then… I think it's time for us to fight."

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><p><strong>Now guys... Leave some reviews if you like, tell me what you thought of it. <strong>

**What you think about the beginning of friendship between Ward and Torunn, what is happening to Skye... Etc etc... **

**Until next time! **

**The Queen of Heart.**


	8. Honor thy Choices

**Hello everyone!**

**I'm feeling quite bad not having updated yet, but hey, I had homeworks and I was incredibily lazy, I have to admit.**

**Anyway, this is the new chapter, I hope you'll all like it. Some hints of particular ships, your job is to tell me which ones.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>It started slowly. The black-dressed men infiltrated the base, Ward guiding them. They sneaked into every corridor, every room. They couldn't access the vaults but they weren't their primary targets. So they kept to the plan. Find the agents. Kill the agents. Take control.<p>

And it was the actual problem. Because there were no agents to find, or kill. No weapons. It was just some deserted base. Ward felt partly relieved. That meant Skye was not in harm's way. He sighed and reunited his men. It was time to go to Coulson's office and maybe find some intel to bring back. He had the feeling that Torunn wouldn't be extremely pleased if they came back without a single thing to report.

The door opened. Ward was surprised. No Captain America action figures on the shelves. There was just that pile of files on the corner of the desk. He sighed and started searching thorugh the papers for interesting stuff. Nothing at all.

"You really thought we were going to leave you top-secret documents, Ward?"

He jumped in surprise, drawing his gun and aiming in the direction of the voice. There was nohting else there than a huge electronic computer-ish panel. And on the panel, there was Simmons. Watching him with a contemptuous and angry expression.

"Simmons..."

"You are gonna listen what I'm going to say. Go back to your sweet little mistresses. And don't come back. You can tell them that."

She was still talking but Ward heard gunshots. He went towards the noise because it was his role. Protecting his men.

It had started slowly. But it was just an impression. After the fake feeling of emptiness of the base, the soldiers had loosen their attention and they had been taken by agents had fallen from the ceiling and appeared from rooms they were sure had already been checked and found empty. They weren't on their guards then, and the battle had started off from that trap. But they had to admit it was well-managed.

The team, other agents were there. They were fighting against Ward's men and they were clearly winning. He could see how Skye was never really touched, how they took care of respecting Torunn's command.

He was partly hidden and could watch what was happening. He would only intervene if one of the men were in danger. He couldn't let Skye see him as a killer again. She had changed so much during the past months. She fought, shot, kicked and punched with precision and fluidity. She turned and her hair moved too. When the brown locks fell down, he saw her eyes. Venomously glaring at him.

He wanted to hug her, to kiss her, to say he was sorry. But he couldn't. He had to fight. They were on the wrong side again. The door burst open, he knew it was the two Asgardians. The door burst open and Skye attacked him.

Torunn stepped into the room. She immediately was tackled by a tall Asian woman. She didn't have the time to draw her sword so she fought the old-fashioned way: kicks and punchs. She quickly found out who her opponent was. May. The skilled fighter. She could find the flaws in her armor and Torunn was protecting her neck, where the woman was aiming.

She could hear her parents yelling at each other in between striking their opponents. They were already a few deaths to count, and Thor was trying, with the help of Coulson, to stop Hella from killing the remaining ones.

She saw her friend hit her father and cracked a little smirk, one second of inattention during which May decided to strike. Her fist stroke the Asgardian square at her jaw. Her head was sent back violently, her lower lip split, drawing some blood.

She immediately reacted, striking back. Her kick sent May flying back. Her hand found her neck. The woman struggled all she could against her grip, but the girl, being a goddess, was too strong. At the moment the victim started to suffocate, the hold loosened a little, allowing oxygen to rush into her lungs.

"Now, now. Agent May… Let's see… If they really know who you are…"

The two icy irises of the girl bore into her and darkened. Her hair straightened, becoming black. She was now a middle-heighted Asian woman, wearing a SHIELD field outfit. A perfect double of Melinda May. Even her voice was the same. She broke into a smirk.

"I got her! Guys!"

She shouted to the others. The real May was trying to escape the Asgardian, punching, scraping with her nails.

"Don't listen to her!"

Coulson looked at the two similar women. One of them was May, but which one? He knew the woman, since a long time.

"Coulson, she's trying to fool you, don't listen to her!"

Air was starting to lack again in her body, but she shouted and clawed and struggled with all her might. They were not going to have her.

"I need help now!"

And Coulson knew. May would never ask for help. May would fight until death, but she would never ever ask for help. She was just so proud, and so selfless too, ready to die for her friends, for her team.

"Sif. Take care of your daughter. I'm not fond of shapeshifters."

The warrior nodded and broke the grasp her daughter had on May. The girl morphed back into her original form. Her face was so angry, almost animalisticly smirking, with all that hatred and rage and violence.

"Oh Mother."

She hissed, drawing her sword, kicking one of the men trying to kill

Ward in one swift and fast motion.

"Stand down, little girl."

"Never!"

And the two swords hit, the metallic sound resounding among the other noises of fight.

Ward already knew this battle was going to be epic. He had never thought, in any of the possible scenarii he had imagined when he couldn't sleep, he would have to face Skye. He hadn't imagined once her hands would be punching him, her body would be so aggressive towards his. He knew she hated him and oh yeah he hated himself so much. But he hadn't pictured her fighting like that. She didn't hesitate, she wasn't the same anymore.

"Ready to admit your failure, Ward?"

She hissed. Tripp was touched by one of Torunn's blows and went flying for a couple of meters.

"Skye..."

"Don't try."

He was about to open his mouth -he couldn't just not try- to reply when he heard Hella screaming at some soldiers to 'Take care of the girl!'. And he saw the couple of pairs of eyes turning to Skye. And one, closer than the others. It was the young man, the one so afraid of death. He had a gun. It was aimed right to Skye's head.

Ward didn't hesitate. He didn't care if she saw him as a killer. The man was threatening her. He had to die.

Grant Ward was not a former Level 7 agent of SHIELD for nothing. He was an expert marksman. His target never saw it coming. One second he was about to pull the trigger, the next he was dead, a bullet right through his temple.

She felt something hitting her from behind, and she was violently pushed forward. Skye was starting to realize what had happened. It was true her heart had stopped when she had seen Ward aiming his gun at her. That was it, he was finally showing his real face. The cold-blooded killer. He was going to shoot her, right there. He had never loved her. It was just an act, everything was just an act. It hurt more than it should have. Even more than when she had learned he was Hydra. She didn't know it was even possible.

But then , he had pulled the trigger and she hadn't died. She had just fallen forward. Right into his arms. And now, she was realizing he was hugging her, and that it felt nice. She couldn't let herself feel that way. He had betrayed her, she couldn't just fall head over heels for him again, the first time she saw him. She pushed him away violently, but it was her feelings she wanted to push away, and she felt like something was missing after all.

"Don't touch me."

She hissed. He looked at her, and when he did that, she saw in his gaze all the regrets, all the things he wanted, needed, to say but couldn't. They were on the wrong side of the battlefield. Again.

Leo knew he was in danger, coming so close to where everyone was fighting. But he didn't care what Jemma was saying anymore. She just couldn't understand. She was so glad, in her little bubble of happiness, with Tripp… So, he was hidden behind a wall, observing the fights. And particularly one. The one between Sif and the girl he had heard was her daughter. It was… kind of beautiful.

Deadly beautiful. The girl was so dangerous, with her shiny sword, her determined look. He heard the blade emitting that whizzling sound when it slashed through the air. He knew it was no training exercise like the ones he had seen May and Skye doing. It was a perilous dance, with those pointy weapons, so acurate when it came to wounding.

She had blood seeping on her chin, the dry remains of the fluid that had fallen from her lip earlier. She was getting sweaty because of the length of the fight, the moves her mother forced her to execute to avoid being harmed. The goddess had already succeeded to cut her arms a couple of times, and Torunn felt a wound just below her ribs.

"Daughter. Now it's time for you to give up."

"Like you gave up on me? I always honor my choices, and that is not something one would call a family trait."

She attacked again. Sif warded the blow off and hit the girl to her thigh. A little groan of pain escaped Torunn's lips. She couldn't let her mother take all credit from her. She ducked at some point, the motion allowing her to take a knife from her boot. Still in that crouched position, she aimed for her opponent's knee. She wanted to wound her badly enough to give herself the possibility of winning this fight.

And then, she saw him. The man, hidden behind a wall, watching her. She was sure he was watching her in particular, not the whole scene. Who was he? She quickly remembered what Ward had told her about his team. He was the scientist, the geeky one. Geeky, but smart and brave. Was it bravery or stupidity from him, standing that close to a battlefield? She wanted to tell him to go away but he had that glow in his eyes, the one telling her he maybe could understand who she was. He was broken. He was just like her.

She had thought too much. The handle of her mother's sword hit the back of her head violently and everything went dark.

He saw it before hearing it. The weapong hitting her head, and the sickening sound that came just after. The girl fell to the ground, her limbs heavier. Leo stood up and walked back to the lab, where Jemma was waiting. He would go after that girl after, when the battle would be over. He was sure there was something else about her. She wasn't a killer. She wasn't the one everyone else saw.

After that episode, the battle soon finished. The last blows and bullets were exchanged and that's when Hella stood up and forced Ward to choose.

She was standing there, looking at him right in the eyes. He should have been shaking in fright but he wasn't afraid anymore. His fear had been not to see Skye again before his death and he had just seen her, and hugged her. He couldn't be afraid of Hella anymore. And the reality hit him. Torunn had never been the bad girl. It had always been Hella and her icy smirk, pulling the strings like a puppetmaster. She had done all that. She had pushed her toy's anger and rage to proportions she maybe didn't even feel.

"Ward. Your time to choose. Go with them. Or stay with me."

He knew he had no choice. Either he chose to go with SHIELD, was brought back into prison and Hella killed them all, or he went with her and saved them. The best option would have been to be with Torunn but that wasn't possible. So, he chose.

"I'm staying with you."

"Fair choice."

He saw Skye's eyes but went away. It was their last chance to flee. He took it. He wasn't afraid anymore. At least not for him. The one he worried about now was Torunn. He left her there, with the team he had once thought was his family. He knew she wasn't going to be received well.

But it would be better for her. He had to honor his choice, so he went with the killer. But he made himself a promise. He would come back. He would not let her down. It wasn't for Skye anymore, it was for Torunn. The friend he had never had.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! <strong>

**Don't forget to review§**

**Until next time, **

**The Queen of Heart**


	9. A Fire that Melted Down the Iciest Fury

**Hello everyone!**

**So, I come back with a new chapter! No battle this time but still a little bit of confrontations... Well, I say a little but that's actually more like a lot. **

**Let me know what you think!**

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><p>Being conscious hurt. Her skull, her wounds, her wrists restrained behind her back by solid, metal Asgardian cuffs. Torunn opened her eyes. She was lying on some sort of bed, more like a bench, in a cell. The walls were black, except for a white-ish one. There was a light, but it wasn't enough to light up the corners of the room.<p>

She remembered the fight with May and the fight with her mother. She remembered the man watching her, and the pain to her head. She had blacked-out. She was now prisoner. And she hated it.

She had always loved freedom above everything. She didn't want to be restrained. She hated being in jail. She wished to control every single of her motions, every single emotion. But she couldn't. She had never could.

She tried to sit, her whole body screaming in pain. She was now sitting on the mattress, trying to turn her wrists to change her position into a more comfortable one. She then saw they had stripped her of her armor, leaving her in leggings and bodice. Of course she didn't have her knife or sword anymore.

For a couple of minutes, she waited. Suddenly, the white-ish wall disappeared and guards entered the room. She tensed when they approached her and grabbed her by the arms. They dragged her, quite roughly, towards the exit and into the corridors.

She gritted her teeth, not making a sound of pain even if she wanted too. Never show your weaknesses to your enemies. They guided her into another room, as dark as the cell, but with a table and two chairs. It looked like some kind of interrogation room. The table was metal, strong and fixed to the ground. The guards made her sit roughly.

"That is no manner of treating a lady, gentlemen."

She snapped. Her comment didn't trigger anything, even an eyebrow rise. They disappeared through the door and she heard their footsteps leave. She sighed. How long was she going to stay in there?

"Lack of finesse…"

She mumbled. God, that was one hell of an uncomfortable position. She tried to tug a little on the cuffs. Increasing the pressure, she tested their resistance to the point she couldn't try harder. Definitely Asgardian metal. She knew this kind of bonds, having used them a couple of times already when it came to restraining prisoners. She knew they resisted to the strength of any god, even the most powerful's.

"Don't try to run."

The voice of her mother came to her ear. The woman was leaning against the door, watching her. How long has she been in there?

"Mother! That's one hell of a timing to suddenly care about me! Did your maternal instinct finally came back from its long-lasting vacations or is it just because I'm wreaking havoc on Father's beloved realm? And since when do you actually care about what he is thinking? I thought you hated him at least as much as you hate me!"

"First, girl, I do care."

"Twaddle. You never cared."

"Second. I don't hate you. Neither do I your father."

"Oh, sure you don't! You just highly despise both of us!"

Sif took a deep, calming breath. Torunn's words were true and hurt her deeply but she couldn't let herself explode to her daughter's face, in rage, or burst into tears like she thought she was going to do if it continued that way for a long time.

"Why are you really here, Mother? If it's not to bring me back home."

"I was sent here by the Allfather. To protect the Nine Realms of the threat of Hella Lokisdottir, with whom I heard you befriended."

"Hella is my friend indeed."

The girl believed it. She actually believed it. She believed that Hella Lokisdottir was her friend. Sif was afraid for her daughter. She thought the most horrible criminal ever was her friend. She thought the Goddess of Death could feel what an intricate emotion was friendship.

"Daughter, I think you are foolish to believe such a thing."

"Mother. Please. Don't try to explain what caring is about."

"I know about friendship."

"Of course… Do I have to remind you how your so-called 'friendship' with Father finished?"

"How dare you!"

"I dare. That's all. There is no how, no why. I just do."

Torunn wasn't even looking at her mother. Well, she couldn't look at the woman who had never been there for her for her whole childhood, and teenage. How even dare she be there and try to give her a lecture?! Did she really think here daughter was going to listen? Then, she was the foolish in the story.

"Torunn… Don't try to make it more difficult!"

"Because you think it's easy? Never seeing your parents. Growing up alone. In the dark. In the shadow of the shame you two bear because I was born. Do you really think that was easy?!"

"Listen to me…"

"No. I'm not gonna listen to anything you are going to say. Now, go away. Or I swear I'm going to get rid of those cuffs. And It won't end up pretty."

"Don't threaten me, child."

"I am not a child anymore. I'm a freakin' rabid goddess, who's most delightful thought is to send you flying into Helheim!"

Coulson had heard the yells of the two women in the cell. He had to interrogate the younger. He could have done it later, but he didn't want to loose one of the two Asgardians.

The door opened at the moment Sif was loosing her temper. She turned and glared at him.

"I come in peace, ladies."

"Coulson, now is definitely not the best of times!"

"Believe me. It is. If you'll excuse me, I have to interrogate my prisoner there."

He gestured towards Torunn. She was quite glad he was interrupting that fight they were having.

"We have family matter to discuss."

"Because now you care about family!"

Torunn rolled her eyes.

"Miss, please."

Coulson interrupted, with a look that clearly told her to shut up. He turned to Sif, and after a little debate, she agreed she could let him with Torunn and continue her confrontation later.

"Finally..."

The girl sighed when her mother left the room.

"Family trouble?"

"Yeah..."

And the interrogation started.

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><p>"What did you do, stupid mortal?! I thought that honor had some kind of meaning on that pathetic realm! I guess I was wrong!"<p>

Hella was icy. Of that kind of cold so low it burned you. Everything, her voice, her eyes, her iron grip on him, was burning with fury.

But now he just looked at her right in the depths of her demented soul. Her world was cold and fury. His had been warmth and love, until they took it away from him.

But now he had a chance to have it back. Finally. And he wasn't gonna let it escape. So, he looked at her, and she saw why this man had always been so difficult to control. That fire. That fire that melted away even the iciest fury.

"We consider honor. Even more than you do. We may be 'inferior' species but we surely are superior in many ways. We feel. I thought this word had some kind of meaning even in the farthest realm."

He was calm. Extremely calm. Hella wanted him to rage. Rage and fear. Fear was what she craved. Rage was just a mean of control. She had done it on one of the purest Asgardian goddess possible. Why couldn't she succeed on a single mortal?

"And you, all mighty goddess you think you be, is nothing more than a living, breathing puppet of blood and tissue. Because there is no glow in you. You don't feel. You are in that perpetual state of fury, of destruction. It's like it is your natural state. You won't ever understand what it is to feel something for someone, in a romantic, friendly, or sad way. You are nothing. And you can't control me anymore. I'm not afraid of your act. I'm not afraid of a robot."

He thought about Skye and the team, but now Torunn was added to the picture. Because he missed her. He had only spent a couple of weeks with what he thought was a raging, psychopathic and spoiled brat from Asgard. He had discovered a lonely, broken, psychopathic girl from Asgard.

He knew no one on the team would believe him after all. They were right. He had betrayed them. he couldn't be trusted anymore. He knew a word from him, against or for Torunn's sake could have the most destructive effects.

"The line between bravery and recklessness is too blurred to be ignored, Grant Ward. Are you gonna step over it?"

"I'll do. With pleasure."

She looked at him, her eyes narrowed. She was a predator, the goddess of Death he was going to feed from his end. But the, she released him. It was surprising. He knew something else was going to come soon enough.

"You are honorable."

She said. And then, she left. But he saw the flash of hatred in her gaze. It was not over yet.

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><p>"Are you not afraid of being alone with a psycho?"<p>

"I ask the questions, young lady."

After asking casually for a couple of shallow things, Coulson was now getting to the topic. Torunn could feel he was on his guard, that's the reason why she had asked that question. She wanted to test him, to see if he was the man she thought he was. He could be cold, or warm, depending on the mood he wanted to give to the conversation. He had just turned icy.

"I'm freakin' 320 years old… Let me tell you I've seen worse."

"This is not the matter. Why did you make Ward escape?"

She was prepared to this one. She had prepared the perfect counter-interrogation, but she decided, in some crazy way, she had to speak the truth to SHIELD.

"We needed him."

"You are two goddesses with supernatural abilities. Why would you need him?"

There was contempt in Coulson's voice. She had heard about the betrayal. She just hadn't realize the wound had been that deep.

"Because he knew SHIELD, because he is an excellent fighter. Because he could make the call according to what he felt was right. The last reason I didn't share with Hella."

"This man betrayed us. You think his judgement is worth your trust? I shouldn't bet on that."

"But I do. Grant is a right man. He didn't make the good choices in the past but he honored them. His judgement is clouded by love, regrets, sadness and a lot of other emotions. That's exactly what I wanted. He is not the Big Bad Wolf you thought he is."

"If you think that, then he fooled you."

"I wouldn't bet on that, at the contrary."

She had a little smile.

"Why did you want to bring SHIELD down?"

"Guess what, genius? We want this realm. So we destroy the main threat for us. The authority on inter-realmic matter. You."

He stood up. He wasn't the one Grant had told her about now. She threatened his family. So he became dangerous. She felt the change in the atmosphere. She swallowed. Maybe it was time to shut her mouth a little bit more.

That's when he remarked the huge dark stain on her sleeve.

"Are you hurt?"

"That's none of your business."

"We are not going to let a prisoner wounded."

She glared at him. She could perfectly take care of herself, thank you very much. He called someone to go have a look on her. Couldn't they just let her be? They waited a few minutes in silence. She could feel Coulson watching her, but she stubbornly looked the other way. She was old enough to be left in peace.

The door opened in a not really discreet way. Her head still hurt, from the stroke she had received from her mother. She winced.

"Sorry, Sir. Jemma couldn't come, she's taking care of the others."

"Alright. I'll leave you two alone. Just don't open her cuffs."

"He's not dumb!"

Torunn grumbled. When the door was closed, she finally looked at the man who was suppose to heal her.

He had a nice smile, and nice eyes. He was nice. And brilliant. And so so alive.

"You are Fitz."

He raised an eyebrow. It wasn't even a question.

"Yeah... How do you know?"

"Grant told me about you."

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><p><strong>Here we are!<strong>

**Don't forget to review!**

**Until next time,**

**The Queen of Heart**


	10. Change

**Hi everyone!**

**Here is next chap!**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>The cloth of her shirt was ripped apart, to allow Fitz to have a closer look at her wound. She let out a sigh when the tug of the ripping made her jolt. It was a cut, about 5mm deep. But that wasn't what shocke him the most. It was the skin of her arm. Hundreds of thin pink lines marbled it, scars.<p>

"Oh my God."

"What?"

And he had found a long lines of stitches, maybe 20, red and a little bit swollen. It looked quite old, maybe a couple of weeks. And it was ugly. Really ugly.

"Does that... hurt?"

"What?"

"The…. The… The stitches."

He touched it. She had a little motion of uncomfort.

"Your hands are cold."

She mumbled as an excuse.

"Who did you... let to that? That's... horrible, and it has to hurt... as hell."

She heard in his voice that he was hesitating on his words, always waiting a fraction of second more than people usually did.

"Do you think that's easy to do stitches at that point? I was twisting my head like crazy I couldn't see the whole wound!"

"Because you did that to yourself?!"

His eyes were wide open. How was it humanly possible to do stitches to yourself? It had to hurt like crazy!

"Of course I did. What do you think? In a middle of battle, nobody stops. So we take care of ourselves."

He stayed open-mouthed for a while. She looked at him and smirked.

"You lost your tongue, mortal?"

"I… Let's take care of your… your… your wound there, will see for others later, alright?"

She straightened on the chair. She didn't really trust Midgardian medecine, since this realm was so retarded. What was taking care of an injury there? At least, he knew stitches and he was kind enough not to hurt her.

Well, that was normal if he was Fitz. She now saw the differences, the flaws in Grant's description of his team. There had been time running since the last time he had seen them. She had seen an icy and dangerous Coulson. And now there was the scientist who was so broken. And she had yet to see the others. How would Skye be? Torunn was afraid that her friend wouldn't recognize his family when, and if, he came back.

"That's going to hurt a little."

"Nothing from this realm is a threat to me. I am a goddess to your people."

"Alright, goddess. But I've warned you."

And he poured some antiseptic on the wound. She jolted and a yelp escaped her lips. The sting of the liquid and the pain from her other wounds when she had moved had made her voice her pain.

"For Loki's sake, you stupid Midgardian!"

"I am not Mid… Mid… Anyway, I am Scottish!"

"Freaking. Same. Difference! That hurt!"

He smiled.

"Come on, you mighty goddess. It's nothing... compared to what you can... endure."

"Stop laughing at me."

"What's your name, mighty goddess?"

"Torunn Thorsdottir of Asgard."

"Ok, once again."

"My name is Torunn Thorsdottir."

"I can't even…. pronounce it!"

"Just call me Torunn alright? What do I call you?"

"The others call me Fitz."

"Fitz is not a name. Do you have another?"

That girl was very different than anyone he had ever seen. She was extremely proud, incredibly stubborn and quite independant. She was so… Special.

"Leo."

"Then, I'll call you Leo."

She was so determined, and confident. She spoke freely, without restrain, and he really liked that. She was not some hypocrith.

"Now, princess, where are your other…. other... wounds?"

"Wait, what did you call me?"

"I called you princess. It suits you."

She looked at him. He smiled. He was nice. He was one of the niciest persons she had ever met. The first one being Grant. But… She felt something else towards Leo than she felt towards Grant. It was different. He was different. He… He was really nice to her. And it was a change.

He took care of her, they chatted a little, but they didn't have time. She wanted to know him. She wanted to know him, because Grant didn't know a lot about him. Because she felt compelled to do so. But it was time for another round of questions from Coulson. Another trip back to the vault. They freed her from the cuffs. She massaged her wrists. The door closed.

* * *

><p>"<em>Don't touch me." <em>

Grant Ward was punching. That's everything he could do right now. He couldn't help but remember her words, the way they hurt deep down. How could he love her that hard? How was it possible to feel so much pain, without being injured. He had known it. He had known it had changed everything. But he couldn't help but remember her words. and the way they hurt.

The bag flew when his fist collided with it. He had to forget it. By any mean. With pain, or with pleasure. He had to forget it.

_Her glaring eyes, that venom in her pupils. The way she moved to hurt him. She purposefully did, when he was trying not to harm her. It was cruel, and well-deserved. _

He shouted in rage. All he wanted was Skye looking at him like she did before it had all started. When he was there for her, her friend, her S.O. and maybe more. It was all his fault, it had always been his fault. Everything. From Thomas to Hella. From the beginning to the end. from a betrayal to another betrayal.

"_Don't try."_

Don't try to talk to me. Don't try to make me like you again. Don't try to get close to me. Don't.

That's all she meant. Don't. Life was just a succession of don'ts. Don't tell the parents I forced you to do it, because I'll say it was all you. Don't try to run away like you did in school, you'll be back anyway. Don't attach yourself. Don't move an ear, or you'll be on the last rank. Don't forget you are Hydra. Don't forget you owe me everything. Don't forget your sister. Don't touch me. Don't try.

And he couldn't stand it anymore.

He stopped punching. He started thinking. If it was going to be that way, he wouldn't bear it much longer. He had to contact her. He had to know. He couldn't care less about restrictions. He couldn't care less about beatings, about don'ts.

The night was starting to fall. It had been two days since he had left Torunn there with Skye and the others. He now saw how much he valued that crazy warrior. How much she meant to him. Because she listened, and she understood.

He walked towards one of the offices on the first floor of the main building. The yard he had to come across was deserted. It was almost scary. He had never seen a base without soldiers on. In one of the offices, he found a laptop, which password he cracked easily. He opened a mail window and took a deep breath. She would have to listen, or at least read.

* * *

><p><em>Ward… He was there, he was just there, so close. She wanted so badly to reach him and hug him. It was horrible. It was all too white, all too blinding, but he was there, just there. Her arms stretched forward, pulling on her sockets, trying to touch him. But she couldn't move anything else in her body, just her arms and her head. She saw him, he was going away. No, no, please! She couldn't let him go. She couldn't. Please…<em>

_She felt water on her face, tears, but she didn't feel like she was crying. It was scary. It felt like she wasn't really in her body, she could feel the tears but it wasn't her who cried. She just pleaded and struggled. _

_The floor she hadn't seen yet covered in symbols, the ones she drew. It was dark and glistening, it was moving slowly, expanding like a some sort of puddle, but it wasn't liquid. She felt she was going crazy. _

_Ward, no… Grant please, don't go. She pleaded, she cried, she shouted. Don't go away from me. Don't leave me. Please. It was crazy and sick, she felt overwhelmed with a stream of sensations. He turned his back and went away from her, she cried out for him to come back. She couldn't be alone, please, don't leave me alone. _

_You said, you were a survivor. You said it, so please survive… Please don't leave me alone. But he did. He went away. She felt her knees giving away and she fell. Her skin was now blue, it didn't strike her at first but then, she realized it wasn't normal. And her heart beat rose up again, even if she thought it wasn"t possible to be more freaked out than that. _

She woke up with a start. She was shaking, crying. Ward… How could she miss him that much? She sighed and tried to have her heart beat calm down. It was ok, it was not hapenning. It was going to be alright. She hated him. She couldn't love him, she hated him too much for that.

Her bed was humid, because of her sweaty skin. Her hands were getting less shaky every minute but she couldn't get past the sensation she had in her chest. She had been torn apart from the one she loved. It hurt.

Sitting, she decided to take a shower. But that didn't help her feel better. She kept scrubbing her arms, even after dressing up. Unconsciously, there was that fear she was actually turning blue, and that the symbols on her ceiling, and Ward going back with Hella, away from her, that it was all connected.

She sighed. The Playground was silent and there wasn't any light. It was kinda eerie in a way, gloomy. She wrapped herself in her arms. Where was she going? She had absolutely no idea about it. Her footsteps led her to the lab. There she saw she wasn't alone.

Sitting in front of his computer, headphones on and typing quite furiously, Fitz didn't hear her. She opened the door and walked towards him. When she put her hand on his shoulder, he jumped in fright, before sighing in relief when he saw it was her.

"Sorry." She whispered.

"That's nothing… I'm just… a little… jumpy after… after the attack a couple days ago."

"I understand."

The first screen, just in front of him, had a page, covered in words. She didn't look at what he had written, it was personal after all. But the second most surprised her. It was the footage of Vault D, the one where the Asgardian was detained. She was not sleeping, just like both of them. They could see the ovale of her eyes in the dark.

"Why are you watching her?"

"I… I don't know. She… she is… fascinating. Really. So…. so…. intriguing."

"But she is dangerous."

"Some would say that but… I don't really believe it."

"Her parents admitted it. I think they have a very good reason to say that."

"Sometimes, parental love isn't what it should be."

Skye couldn't understand why he was so protective of that girl. For God's sake, he had just met her! What was that thing about parental love? She realized no one on the team knew Fitz really well. Nobody knew about his past. She doubted even Simmons knew.

They stayed that way for a while, watching the girl shift on the bed.

"She had some really ugly…. sutures. When I asked her who had done that, she said she did it herself."

"What?!"

Skye looked at him. He was dead serious. She guessed he was as shocked at her when he had learned that.

"I think, when it comes to a girl, who is lonely enough to have to take care of herself that way, the advice of her parents may not be the best to take."

She didn't answer. He was right. Had Sif and Thor cared enough about their daughter to have a relevant word in that story? That was a question they all had to keep in mind now. This girl was maybe dangerous, but it was just the top of the iceberg. There was a whole lot more to discover behind her nasty facade.

She looked at the hour on the computer. _4:58 am. _She sighed. They looked at each other. They had that curious routine, meeting up in the lab at the break of day, talking a little, spending some time together in silence, and then going their way, and almost not seeing each other until the next night. It was a silent friendship, a compassionate one. One of the deepest.

"It's almost 5."

"One more day to go…"

In Skye's mail box, a little e-mail had just popped up, from an unknown adress. She wouldn't see it until she opened her laptop and checked her box, a couple of hours later.

_Skye…_

* * *

><p><strong>So what do you think Ward wrote to Skye? <strong>

**Don't forget to give me your thoughts about it!**

**Until next time,**

**The Queen of Heart**


	11. Deep scars

**Hi, everyone!**

**Today is the new chapter of Lost Children in the Dark! This is also a great step, 'cause we officially passed the first ten chapters! Youhou! I am so proud, 'cause I had never been this far in a story before! Well, I truly have to thank byLunaA for her help, and also for being here all the time for me!**

**You were maybe wondering what was in the mail Ward sent to Skye! The answer is today! **

**Enjoy this chapter! And don't forget to review! (it always makes my day, even if it's just a couple of words, or even an emoticon!)**

* * *

><p>It was morning. She could feel it. The light in the cell had never faltered, never changed, through the night. But she felt it was morning, as well as she felt people were walking by her cell. She sat on her bed, stretching her arms, ready for her morning drills. It would be different without the reassuring weight of her sword at her side. But she still did it. Her wounds were still hurting, after all it couldn't heal in a night. But she felt good.<p>

She was in the middle of her routine when she heard a door open. The wall disappeared. She kept on following her motions, bit tensed as she was, it was not the same. A woman came to her.

She was little, smaller than Torunn but she had that contemptuous air, the one that made her want to slap it off her face.

"Stand still."

The Asgardian raised a questioning eyebrow. Who was that girl? She did as ordered because she was the prisoner.

"I'm here to have a look at your wounds. Don't move."

The woman said, already rolling up Torunn's sleeve. There was no need to do that, Leo had taken care of it quite nicely.

"Leo did a great job."

"He's not a doctor. He's an engineer. He usually patches up pieces of tech. Not flesh."

That was it. She was just some bit of flesh. The woman put a strand of light brown hair back behind her ear and sighed. After checking her arm, she moved her cold hands to her side.

"Anyway, it's director's orders. Believe me I have better things to do than being there in the cage of a monster."

Torunn winced when the woman bumped into her thigh, just next to her last wound.

"Where is your last one?"

"Right thigh."

It went coldly and silently. Torunn was wondering who was that woman. She wasn't part of Grant's description. Maybe she was new.

A man entered the room at that precise moment. He smiled at the woman who let go of her cold demeanour.

"We need you here, Jemma."

"I finish up with her and I'm all yours, honey..."

She smiled. Her contact was way different. Torunn could understand a slight difference, these two were certainly lovers. But her mean attitude towards her... The girl was Jemma, Jemma Simmons. Why was she acting like that? She was supposed to be kind.

The woman went away without looking at her in the eyes. Despise her want to know the family of her friend, Torunn now wished she hadn't seen her. There were true, deep scars in all of those she had seen. She couldn't let Grant see that. He would be broken. Even more than he already was.

She sat on the bed. What was she going to do now? She was patched up, she was rested… They had given her food earlier which she had eaten. She needed to do something, but she was locked up in that cell, and it was so frustrating! She could just step around and around the space, between those walls, look at the ceiling and practise without a sword, motions of battle she knew by heart. She hated it.

She knew her parents were somewhere in that place and it made her crazy. Why were they here? They had never cared. Why now? She felt like she was about to either scream in rage or burst into tears. Or do both.

In the lab, Leo was working silently as usual. He liked silence. He didn't need to speak. He liked that. He felt almost normal. He was trying to make his right hand work normally, but it wouldn't, and that annoyed him. But he did his work the best he could, and the results were coming. He was talking more fluently, it was easier for him to understand things and the little moves he could do with his hand were a great victory in themselves. But he wasn't back yet. And he felt nobody really cared.

He heard giggles and hurried footsteps, soft sighs in between kissing noises. The door opened. He didn't have to look to know. There she was. Jemma Simmons, the one he thought was his best friend, and maybe more. There she was. There was not one day they weren't caught kissing or worst. She didn't care about him trying to patch up the broken pieces of his sanity. The only one she considered was Tripp.

"Jemma! People are trying to work!"

He heard the noises stopping, a deep sigh and her voice almost aggressively resounded in the lab.

"No need to shout Leo! Try to have some fun some time. Soon. 'Cause nobody can stand your brooding mood anymore!"

And he heard them walking away. Why? What had changed? He couldn't remember when and how they had become so angry at each other. He hit the table in frustration.

"You look upset, clever man."

He turned around and saw that Sif was looking at him with a smile. He nodded. That was for the silence and tranquility he appreciated a few minutes ago. The woman never seemed to change. She always had that armor, her sword at her hip. She always was looking fierce and dangerous. It was kind of strange. He wondered if she wanted to see Torunn. He wondered if she really hated her daughter.

"How is she?"

He frowned. Why was she asking him? Jemma had just come back from checking her. He looked up to the computer still on from the night. The girl was pacing around in circles, looking stressed out.

"I guess she's good."

"She is quite the energetic girl."

"I saw her…. her…."

The words were escaping him, again, as always. He knew it, he was sure. He had heard Ward say it to Skye when he was keeping his lie on.

"Her routine, you mean?"

It was that. It was that word he had been searching for the last couple of seconds, seconds who lasted hours in his head. He knew that word. Routine. He could still hear May, or Ward saying that.

"Yeah that. I saw her routine this morning. She was up early."

"She is young but she was raised following the military traditions by one of the best swordswoman I have ever met."

"But not by you."

"Not by me."

She was sad. He could feel it deep down. She was extremely sad. He sighed. Families were always complicated. The way issues could come were too many and the solutions too few.

"Why don't you go see her?"

"I… She won't talk to me."

"Why would she talk to me?"

Sif sighed deeply, and looked at the picture of her daughter. She was a beautiful young woman. And Sif regretted not watching her grow. She should have. But now was too late for regrets.

"I don't know. I guess everyone not being her father or myself would be welcomed."

* * *

><p><em>Skye.<em>

_Regrets. That's what I feel. I should probably say remorses. I should probably be already begging for you to forgive me. But I know you won't forgive me anytime soon. _

_I'm tired of playing the part. I'm tired of showing no emotions.I felt something when you made me understand how much you hated me. When you punched me. It hurt. It really did. _

_I guess you don't believe any of that. That wouldn't surprise me. You are quite stubborn. _

_That's very cowardly of me to say that in a mail. I guess I will say it again when I see you. I hope soon._

_I miss you. I miss the way you always tried to have more sleep in the morning when I came and woke you up. I miss your crazy ideas, and that marvelous way you always answered back to everything. I miss everything. I miss you._

_I should have let Garrett down when I realized what I felt about you. I thought about it. But I didn't. I was wrong. _

_Ward. _

"He dared! He dared!"

She was crazy. This man was going to turn her crazy. He dared sending her a mail which message was basically that he loved her. After all he had done! He had the nerve to say that! Skye was crying in rage. She couldn't stand it anymore, she was cracking. She was exhausted, physically and mentally. She had lost weight. She was slowly but surely losing her mind. She had lost her heart. She had lost everything since Hydra. She had lost everything because of him.

She took a deep breath. She couldn't see through the curtain of tears. She was trying to stand up and wash the flood away from her face but she couldn't. She couldn't be strong. She just wanted to be weak for a minute. Or two. Just for once. She didn't know what she wanted anymore. The path she thought she would follow was lost in the sea of her tears, where was also her dreams and the raggedy remains of her pulverized passion. She had believed in him for God's sake! he had even… No she couldn't say it. It hurt too much. It hurt as much as her crazy chimeras overpopulating her nights.

Butterflies were appearing behind her tightly closed eyelids. She couldn't let herself go. But she did it anyway. She couldn't fight against herself. She had learned that. But she still tried. Because it was nonsense. It was all insane, foolish. It was just… It was just… It was just what she felt. It was just love.

She was still crying but not in rage anymore. It was the tears of a broken heart. It was terrible. it was all her. It was her fault. She shouldn't have fell in love with him. He was her weakness. She shouldn't feel that. And weaknesses were made to be beaten. He better run. Because she was going to find him.

She didn't cry anymore. Run, Ward. That was all she could say. Weaknesses were made to disappear with ge and training. he wanted to make her stronger. He wanted to make her soldier. Soldiers don't have weaknesses. He didn't have a weakness. So she was going to make him disappear.

She stood up. She walked to the bathroom. Her cheeks were strained with mascara. Was it the face of a soldier? She washed it away slowly, taking her time. It was the shattered love she had for him she washed away. It was dark and ugly. She was going to be new. Without that pain she still harbored into her chest. He would not recognize her. Good. Here's what you've done to me, asshole. Look what I've become. This is your masterpiece.

* * *

><p>She wanted Death. Death. Violence. Fear. Tears. She wanted them to suffer. She was not just Goddess of Death. She was the one to make them pay for their acts. She was there to bring justice. A twisted, dark, woeful justice. Just as she was twisted, dark and woeful.<p>

Hella had never been a joyous child. She was the crazy one, the gloomy one. The one who watched fire burn and destroy with a manic fascination. That had cost her half her skin. She had been burned because she was too close. Too close to the fire that burned and destroyed. She was her own kind of fire. Cold and burning. Monstruous. Icy.

There were so many lives to take on that stupid realm. It was such a little world for all this scrawing life. She was ready to help reduce that number. Wasn't that so generous of her? She was insanely craving the misery of this pathetic species. Of every pathetic species standing between her and the Nine Realms. Insanity was a word that had long ago became a part of her own being. She was insane to the point of no return. She was past help. Nothing could bring her back. As she ever been sane? She couldn't remember. She simply had never been.

She knew the look in the mortal's eyes. It was pain? This man was hurt to the point of no return. There were deep scars. Too deep to be healed. She didn't believe in what people called the power of love. Love was an overrated ideal. Some abstract goal no one could reach. But love brought hurt. That was the only thing she could appreciated about it. Love led to crimes. Love led to insanity. Love led to death.

"Mortal!"

She called with her low and cold voice. He looked at her. He was fierce. She could only admit that. He was brave. Maybe was it what people liked. She didn't care. She could only cared about what made their heart stop from fear. She could only care about what made them tremble.

"Yes?"

"How many soldiers do we have left?"

How many lives could they still sacrifice? He knew that was what she made behind it. That woman was crazy. He couldn't stand the way her bi-color irises glowed in manic fury and demented craving. He maybe looked like he was afraid of her. He was more disgusted by her. She lived for death. Was it even living? He saw the difference between Torunn and her. Torunn lived. Torunn loved. Torunn had freaking feelings. Well… It was what he had felt. What he had seen.

But now they were just puppets. In the hand of cruel masters. No feelings approved. No strings. they had to fight. He had to face that crazy goddess. and his own demons.

* * *

><p><strong>Here we are!<strong>

**So what did you think of all of that? Tell me!**

**Until next time,**

**The Queen of Heart**


	12. Mess and Fiasco

**Hi, everyone! **

**Sorry for not posting earlier like planned, but I had an exam this week that took me more time to rpeapre that what I had thought. So I finally finished the chapter and I'm posting it. Let me know what you think. **

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><p><span><em><strong>A few days later<strong>_

"So you can morph your appearance."

"Yes. I told you that ten times already. Or more. You should check your records."

She sighed. Another boring interview with Coulson. She quite liked the man in general, even if he tended to be icy when it came to Ward, when it came to his team. She knew better than ask questions about what had happened. She knew that, in interrogations, you had to avoid questioning the person who kept you captive. It could have nasty consequences on your health. She just kept her answers sarcastic and clear, as she had always done in the multiple occasions she had found herself restrained, with a quite important threat on her safety.

Coulson knew she was a warrior. He had seen her fight, he had seen her talk about what she had done. He saw her behavior in this situation. He knew she had done all of it already a thousand times and was prepared to continue doing it. She was, and that was quite paradoxical because of her young age, some sort of war veteran. She had seen things on the battlefield most of people would have nightmares about. She had patched herself up in awful circumstances, probably unhygienic, and there she was. All smirk and sarcasm. She had that dark brand of humor. And he quite liked her vision of the Universe as it was.

"I'll do that."

He looked at his watch. He had been in there for two hours. It was time for them both to have a break. She looked exhausted.

"Time to stop for today."

"Great."

"Are your wounds still hurting?"

"A little. But that's normal at this stage of the healing process."

"Do you want me to send somebody to have a look?"

"I don't want anything. If you do, please send somebody that wouldn't say I'm a monster right into my face. I've got a lot of self-control. And I am not armed. But I can do things with my bare hands I wouldn't want anybody to find out soon."

He smiled. This girl was mad. But not psycho madness. She was just a wild one, who hated being restrained or kept in a little space for too long. And that energy could easily morph into anger at any provocation. He had seen that already, the pattern you find in patented warriors or spies. Romanov was like that too. Always requesting something to do. It was explained by a lack of sleep and too much caffeine in some cases. But for Romanov or Torunn Thorsdottir, their drug was adrenalin and combat. Who would win the fight if these two had to fight against each other?

He called Fitz to go see her. That was what she had meant. Not Simmons who had turned into a quite angry ball of nerves during the past months, but sweet, broken-hearted Fitz. He had seen him keeping an eye on her on the monitor in his lab. He had seen the footage of the interrogation room where he had taken care of her. He was kind with her. And she was surprised of that. He tried to look after her. He had made sure to be informed of what was going on in these interrogations. It was nice of him. But Coulson, like everyone else, didn't understand why.

When the two men pushed her in the vault, she saw that someone was already there. She immediately tensed, swearing on her lack of weaponry.

"Watch the language, princess."

She relaxed almost immediately. It was just Leo.

"Hi."

That's all she said. Hi. He shook his head. When she came under the crude white light, he saw how much her sleep deprivation was affecting her. She had dark circles under her eyes, she seemed slow and exhausted. Her motions weren't that precise and energetic anymore and he felt like she was going to black out any minute.

"How are you?"

"I'm ok."

She wasn't. He could see it. Being ok was something you said only when you weren't. When he heard his mother cry quietly and he came to see her, she always said that. I'm ok, Leo. Ok was not ok.

"You're not. You almost don't sleep. You almost are a zombie. What is happening?"

She didn't answer, and didn't look at him. It was as if she hadn't heard him. It was disturbing and he hated that.

"Look at me, Torunn."

"I'm ok, Leo."

"Look at me."

She reluctantly looked at him. Something was happening. Something he didn't really understand. It was pain. Fever maybe. Anyway, she was in a bad state. He ordered her to sit, and she did without complaining. She bit her lip to keep from crying out. She was hurt.

"What is happening?"

He put a hand up at her forehead. It was hot. She was burning. Fever. Lack of sleep weakened the immune system. She had wounds, still not completely healed. She had been having her bandages replaced for a couple of days. What if… His eyes opened wide. What if she had an infection? Fever was one of the symptoms.

He was going to kill Jemma. She was supposed to be a doctor for God's sake! She was supposed to avoid this kind of situations! Even Torunn, who had no medical training, in a middle of a freaking battlefield, was able to patch herself up, without getting an infection! He swore.

"Watch your language, Leo."

She said with a slight smile. He helped her lay on the bed. She cringed her teeth. He muttered relaxing words to her. He moved the clothes around her wounds, put the bandages off. Nothing on the arm. He put a new one on and proceeded the same on her thigh. Nothing here. There was only one wound left. The bigger one, on her side. It was deeper than the others and longer. And it had swollen and reddened. Red streaks were starting to run from the area. How come Jemma didn't see this?

He gently touched the area. Her breath hitched.

"Don't hesitate to say if I hurt you."

She nodded but he knew she wouldn't. She was too proud. He sighed. Why was this girl so stubborn? Wasn't it sometimes much simpler to _say_ things? He looked at her. She was pale, paler than the last time he had seen her. The dark circles and the red streaks both were clearly visible on her body, the contrast affecting it. She was sweating, she was starting to shake.

"Torunn."

Her head was hurting like crazy, her wound too, she felt generally weak and she hated it. Everything was starting to go dark. It started slowly. Then, she completely fell unconscious. As if somebody had turned the energy switch off.

* * *

><p>"<em>We are interrupting your program for a quick news flash."<em>

Skye looked up from her computer. She had been browsing every footage they had that could actually lead to him. But no trace of him. Nothing. That made her go crazy. He was human, for God's sake! How come he didn't make mistakes? She felt like smashing her computer on the floor and stomp on it. And it was something she didn't say often, being a compulsive hacker.

"_For a few days, violent deaths had been reported all over Nevada. People placed a group of masked men, carrying guns, near the city of Elko. They follow no clear pattern. Mr Toledano witnessed one of the killings. "_

It was masked men. No sign of Ward. Where was he? She was desperate to find him and make him pay. He had made her that way. He had made her want to end everything. She couldn't believe she actually had loved him. That bastard. She was about to turn of the TV, the constant violence always made her wait of some sign from him. But she didn't. Something a young man was saying really interested her.

"_The police wouldn't believe us. But we saw them. Their leader is a woman. The thing is, she really looks like a villain from comics. Like really. She's all metal-ish and carries a sword. She's insane. That sounds crazy, but we actually saw her. It is her."_

That wasn't possible. Hella was there. She was heading North. Skye called for somebody. They needed to stop them before they caused more trouble. Waiting for people to come see why she was calling, she did a quick research. Elko. North Nevada. More than 18,200 inhabitants. More than 18.200 lives that could end soon if the goddess continued her savage enterprise. Nobody came they were all scattered around the Playground getting done with their tasks. They had been like that since the attack. Buzzing around the place, preparing for what they thought was an on-coming attack. It had been more than a week since then. And there had been no attack. Enough to make everyone start worrying.

She opened her mail box. She hadn't had any mail since his. She couldn't stop going back to it everyday, a few times each day. God, she hated that. But these worlds… Was it a whole lie? Could it be a lie? Of course it could. Of course it could. He was a liar. He was a master of dissimulation. He had done it already. She had seen it already. But she just couldn't help hoping. He had saved her. Before going away again.

She shook her head. No. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing she still wanted him to be good. She wanted him to see her as what he had made her. Cold. Deadly. Revengeful.

* * *

><p>Coulson was working in his office. These files were incredibly boring. How could Fury manage that? He had been a field agent before becoming Director, just like Coulson. How could he keep his cool when he was browsing through hundreds of reports like these? He sighed. Becoming the head of SHIELD had been stimulating at first, since the whole organization was in state of internal war. But now that all had settled down… He was bored. He had not really been into a mission since months. A soft knock at the door broke his train of thought.<p>

"Yes."

A young agent entered.

"Sir, we have a non-registered e-mail communication going on between an agent with a high clearance level and a IP code unknown of us."

"Who?"

"Agent…"

She looked at her paper a moment, quite perplexed.

"Agent Skye, sir."

Skye? Skye was having an email exchange with people outside SHIELD? Did she still have contacts with her hacktivist friends from Rising Tide? He sighed. That was going to add another issue to the whole Asgardian mess, and to the Kree fiasco.

"Do you have a report?"

"Here, sir."

She gave the paper to him. It was just two emails, one coming from an unknown address and the others was the reply from Skye. He started to worry. He had contacted her. Ward had dared contact her. That meant he knew her mail, that meant he knew how to contact them. How did he succeed to have access to protected addresses?

"Did you trace the mail?"

"I was waiting for your consent, sir. In case you wouldn't want us to…"

"You have my agreement. Find him."

She nodded and walked back to the door. He called her at the moment she was about to close the panel behind her.

"What's your name?"

"Agent Carter, sir."

"Then, Agent Carter, I would like that conversation and the story of these e-mails kept secret. You'll report directly to me."

"Yes, sir."

She closed the door. He stayed seated, staring at the words Ward had written to Skye. That explained everything. Her new behavior during the last days. The way she was colder, the way she spent hours trying to find a trace, anything, browsing through video footage they had already seen multiple times. She had… changed. As if her emotions were off, leaving the path free for her rage and revenge. This was her answer to the regretful piece of writing of the former agent.

_We'll meet again, Ward. And you'll have the surprise of a lifetime._

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading!<strong>

**Don't forget to review to let me know what you think will happen next! **

**Until next time,**

**The Queen of Heart**


	13. Subconscious

**Hi everyone! **

**That's me, I'm back! **

**This chapter is longer than usual, maybe because I was sick last week and just couldn't finish the chapter and post it! So now I'm back and it's the vacations so I'll have more time to write!**

**I'm excited about this chapter because I really liked writing it, I hope you'll like it and be surprised by what's coming. **

**The credits for the song are: **

**- Demons by Imagine Dragons**

**- I wonder by Kellie Pickler **

**- Nightmares by Ed Sheeran**

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><p><em>It was dark and steamy. The world was made of a black thick smoke. From where she was standing, the battlefield looked like a children game with little models moving around. Jets of red paint came from their bodies when they hit each other. It looked like a macabre spectacle for deranged souls. And she watched it with an alarmed fascination. She was not psychopathic enough to rejoice in watching death and fights from up here, as an insane deity would do.<em>

"_This is your deed." _

_Behind her was standing a tall man. He was blue-skinned, dark eyes and dark-haired. He had long black locks of silky hair. The color of his skin didn't shock her. It was usual. Half the men dying at the foot of her cliff were blue or pink. _

"_How can this be my deed, Raal-Sha? I never asked for a thing."_

"_You didn't. Dok-Tor did. We have a very high notion of word-given. He didn't honor his word, Ska-Aï. You pay."_

_Her blue skin was covered in symbols. It was creepy enough not remembering who and why they had done that. She was supposed to be the one ending the war. She was supposed to be the final sacrifice, because of him. But she couldn't. It wasn't her fault. It wasn't her fault. She closed her eyes when Raal-Sha pushed her forward to the cliff, to her end. Why her? She didn't gaze down to the battlefield and the ground she would end on, after her fall. She felt nothing anymore below her feet. Air wiped her face and her brown hair was pulled back by the wind. The end._

They could have found her in her bathroom, trying to erase the black ink from her skin which was absolutely human-like. They could have seen the scared and angry tears threatening to roll on her cheeks. Why was this happening to her? Because her friends had wanted to help her in the first place? Because she had tried to make it right, to save Mike Peterson from Ian Quinn and Centipede? This was not her fault!

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><p>When the days are cold<p>

And the cards all fold

And the saints we see

Are all made of gold

When your dreams all fail

And the ones we hail

Are the worst of all

And the blood's run stale

I wanna hide the truth

I wanna shelter you

But with the beast inside

There's nowhere we can hide

No matter what we breed

We still are made of greed

This is my kingdom come

This is my kingdom come

When you feel my heat

Look into my eyes

It's where my demons hide

It's where my demons hide

Don't get too close

It's dark inside

It's where my demons hide

It's where my demons hide

At the curtain's call

It's the last of all

When the lights fade out

All the sinners crawl

So they dug your grave

And the masquerade

Will come calling out

At the mess you made

Don't wanna let you down

But I am hell bound

Though this is all for you

Don't wanna hide the truth

They say it's what you make

I say it's up to fate

It's woven in my soul

I need to let you go

Your eyes, they shine so bright

I wanna save that light

I can't escape this now

Unless you show me how

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><p><em>The little girl was playing with toys in one of the rooms of the palace. She was bored to death by the lack of excitement of the whole activity. Because when she wanted to make her dolls fight, she made too much noise and she was scolded by the maid watching her. She looked in the blue eyes of the doll. It was a gift from her father, but he hadn't brought it himself. He never came. The doll was pale and blonde, with plaits and a blue dress, just like the one the girl was wearing today. But Torunn prefered the strong and smooth silver armor of her mother to the soft and fluffy sweet dresses the maid wore. <em>

"_I'm bored." _

_She pouted. She heard the sigh of the maid behind her She knew the woman didn't like being bothered when she was reading. But she was supposed to take care of her, and was failing. _

"_Stay calm…"_

"_But I'm bored!"_

"_You're a little girl of 3 years old. How can you be bored by dolls?"_

_The girl crossed her arms and frowned. That wasn't fair. She resumed fidgeting with the toy for a moment before the door opened slowly. She turned to see who was coming, and if the person was going to save her from that boredom. A tall woman in shiny armor entered the room. Her face lit up with a smile when she saw the child watching her. _

"_Mommy!"_

"_Hey, baby…"_

_Torunn jumped into her mother's arm, giggling in joy. It had been days since she had last seen her._

"_How are you?"_

"_I was bored and then, you came and I'm not bored anymore!" _

_She squealed in excitement. Sif laughed. God, that girl was amazing. _

"_I missed you…" _

"_Me too, mommy! I asked when you were coming but nobody told me…"_

_She pouted. But her mother was here now, and everything was ok, and she was not bored anymore and she was happy, and the maid and the doll were both forgotten. Sif played with her, smiled with her and never seemed annoyed when she wanted her dolls to fight. She just shook her head and smiled fondly at her. And Torunn was happy. _

Her hand stroke softly the burning forehead and sweaty blonde locks of her daughter. She had been dreaming and muttering 'mommy' a couple of times, in a heart-breaking manner. It was the scientist who had called her in the cell, even if she didn't want to go at first. But the way he had made her understand her daughter needed her… She just couldn't get away this time. She had to be there.

The girl tensed and Sif felt the dream had changed to its more horror-carrying counterpart. Her eyes rolled behind her eyelids, a shudder shook her body from head to toe. A moan, soft and painful, escaped her lips.

"Sshh, baby…It's over…"

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><p>Sometimes I think about you<p>

Wonder if you're out there somewhere thinking bout me

And would you even recognize

The woman that your little girl has grown up to be

Cause I look in the mirror and all I see

Are your brown eyes looking back at me

They're the only thing you ever gave to me at all

Oh, I hear the weather's nice in California

There's sunny skies as far I can see

If you ever come back home to Carolina

I wonder what you'd say to me

I think about how it ain't fair

That you weren't there to braid my hair

Like mothers do

You weren't around to cheer me on

Help me dress for my high school prom

Like mothers do

Did you think I didn't need you here

To hold my hand

To dry my tears

Did you even miss me through the years at all

Forgiveness is such a simple word

But it's so hard to do when you've been hurt

Oh, I hear the weather's nice in California

And just in case you're wondering about me

From now on I won't be in Carolina

Your little girl is off

Your little girl is off

Your little girl is off to Tennessee

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><p><em>One on her right. Gunshot. One on her left. Gunshot. One just in the middle. Gunshot. One on her right. Gunshot. One on her left. Gunshot. Almost point blank this time. She was starting to lose it altogether. Stay calm, May. Keep your cool. It was his voice ringing in her ears. She took a deep breath. Don't think. She had to get them out of here. Kill the others. Finish the mission. Save them. Save him. There was blood everywhere, on the walls, on the floor, on her gun and on her hands, on her hair and on her face. The blood of her enemies mixed up with her own. They had made blood flow, she had done it too. It was payback for the treatment they had given all of them. <em>

_She recharged the gun, pulled the trigger, killed a man. Not thinking about his family or friends was easier now. She couldn't think about all the families of all the men she had just killed. She had to stay focused on the mission. Get them out. _

_She entered the cell. It was dark but big, and it was fortunate, because they were twenty. She hadn't seen them in days. Or what had felt like days. Maybe it was just hours. Maybe it was months. She had been kept in another room, alone. Maybe because she was a woman. She didn't know. She didn't want to know. She just had to get them out. They all looked up at her. And their features tensed. _

_She felt somebody move behind her, from the door she had just passed; She felt the barrel of a gun, the enemy's gun pressed against the back of her head. Stay calm, May. She took a deep breath. _

"_Oh no, darling… Don't try to make them escape…" _

_The man spoke with a thick accent. It was now sure he was from the team of terrorists that had kidnapped them. She recognized the voice, its rusty sound. _

"_I am not your darling." _

_She hissed back. She felt him change his position, move towards her. It was exactly what she needed. She threw her leg back in a powerful kick. Her foot landed in his knee. The sound of bone hitting bone resounded and the man fell to the ground. There were two gunshots. One pierced through her arm, making her cry out in pain. The other went through his head and made him go limp on the floor, like a puppet. _

_She bit her lip to fight the pain, drew blood, winced. All the others were passing each other a knife she had given them, cutting of their bounds, ropes. She ripped a piece of fabric in the dead man's shirt, used it to put around her wound. It was bleeding, but not as much as it would have if he had hit an artery or a principal vein. Her face had remained expressionless. _

"_Everybody move."_

_She ordered in a dark and cold voice, taking the lead. She had to guide them to the weaponry to take arms, or they should take them off the floor. She decided for the second option. The way to the exit was long enough without a detour._

_They moved quickly. That's what she liked when she rescued professionals. They moved quickly and weren't taking silly decisions every minute. They made it out with almost no problems. They just had a little bit of fight to have against some remaining soldiers, but it was almost nothing. _

_The sun was hot. It was the middle of the day. The relief everybody felt was huge. They were out. Nobody was waiting for them. They were alive. She looked back at her little group. She looked again. Somebody was missing. He was missing. _

"_Where's Coulson?"_

"_He was taken by the soldiers not long before you came in. We thought he was already out."_

"_He isn't."_

_She recharged her gun, took a second one from an ally, checked the number of bullets remaining. Almost full. She took a deep breath and started to walk. _

"_Where are you going?"_

"_I'm going back in."_

"_Don't, you're gonna die."_

"_I don't care."_

"_But the extraction team will be here soon. He will not blame you if you leave."_

"_But I will blame myself. I am not leaving someone behind. If I had done that, you would not be here."_

_She entered the building. Now it was almost deserted. but she knew that somewhere, Coulson was detained. And if they had done anything to him, they would pay. She walked over the corpses, over the floods of blood and the remaining weapons. She took another charger, for back-up. She didn't know what was waiting for her. She couldn't believe the others wanted to leave him there, and were prepared to do so that easily. _

_She found them after minutes of search that felt like hours. They were in the basements. That was the moment it was going to be hard-core. Going down the stairs, she was an easy threat, but she had neither the time nor the gear to pull up a fancier entrance. She sighed. On three. One. Two. Three._

_The doors burst open, giving her the surprise effect she needed to jump half way through the stairs. He was there, tied up on a chair, cut and blood was streaming down his recent wounds. Torture. She saw red. The soldiers looked at her and shot. She shot too. A dozen of times. She killed them. She killed them all. _

_She rushed at his feet to untie him. He looked up at her. She didn't smile at him. She didn't look at him. She helped him get up. Her arm was hurting like crazy but she didn't care. He was safe. Her team was safe. Nothing could happen now. _

"_Melinda, you ok?"_

_She nodded, wincing. They made their way through the maze of the place, she had to shoot twice again. He tensed each time, but she get them out. She was broken up. But she get them out. She didn't know the cost yet. _

She shot out of her meditative phase. She didn't want those memories to come back. But they did. As they hadn't stopped to do for the last few years since it all happened. Since Bahrain and the mission that had changed her life. In many ways. She still had the scar on her arm. Today, she couldn't believe how she had been able to do all of that with that wound and the blood loss. Somebody on their team had died back there. The only woman. Melinda May.

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><p>They tell me you can only dream when you fell asleep<p>

But now I'm working to achieve and sleep's the only thing that I never see

And I vowed that my breathing will never cease

To the retrieve then I can't let them be

I won't let 'em leave and I had the same feeling since 17

But I wasn't ready then like when a lemon's green,

Now I'm in the magazines almost every week,

Cause I'm getting heat like in Tenerife,

Right now it's better than it's never been

Never fade like a plant that's evergreen

So I hope to my heart, but my self doubts are getting me,

Afraid for my cross, getting dump for the day and I'm getting weak,

Cause I'm new, I'm that boy that starts it.

They chase dreams together like a slumber party,

And now I'm on my own, even though I'm smooth sailing

I'm scared to sing, cause my nightmare is fading.

When the darkness creeps in,

I feel my nightmares watching me.

And when my dreams are sleeping,

I feel my nightmares watching me.

Oh, oh, oh!

I feel my nightmares watching me.

You better wake up cause I am making moves,

And even when I'm dozing I'm breaking rooms,

I'm only hitting the sack when I'm training,

Too busy trying to keep up with the latest snooze.

Made my bed and that's where I'm heading,

I fly straight with the best man I embed 'em

Married to the game was a quiet wedding, then I had to fight to get her

Now I'm taking control of my inception, cause they try to hit misses with my direction,

See they better marry donna cause when I strike, strike,

Not even Maradonna is gonna cry, I'm awake at night,

The haters know where the family lives,

Tell me what I catch, but you're playing knock door ginger.

Just gonna lose a lot more, than I need it.

They say sleep is the cousin of death,

But I aint hearin' that shit 'cause I am deaf

Gang signs I'm N/A reading.

I'm a CEO, man you suckers are next.

I fell asleep on myself, woke up in reality,

And daydream about losing my sanity.

I've been rhyming forever got a blind flow.

So I can see an off note with my eyes closed.

But to achieve the dreams you can't doze off cos your dream a sleep

I ain't nodding off but I'm nodding to the beat.

I be shocking in my sheets, when I should have been asleep.

See, all the dreams I'm fonder,

You placed me in the team insomnia

Now, I'm Mr hard worker,

In my nightmares I'm Mr can't turn up,

And I missed my chance worst luck,

Trying to hit women like Mr Ike Turner

Yeah, but I walked from dat isht, now they gotta put me to rest on my mattress

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading!<strong>

**Don't forget to review/fav/follow !**

**Until next time, **

**The Queen of Heart**


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